3 feared dead in Japan military chopper crash

Three Japaneses crew members are feared dead after a naval training helicopter crash, Japan’s military says.

A spokesman for Japan’s navy, the Maritime Self-Defense Force, said Friday that the crew members were presumed dead as they had no heartbeat but added that a medical declaration of their death has not been officially confirmed yet.

The Japanese naval training helicopter was reported missing with three people on board when ground commanders lost contact with it on Thursday morning.

The helicopter was flying above Kagoshima prefecture in southwestern Japan.

It was later found in woods along with its crew, two of them experienced instructors and a trainee.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear but bad weather seems to have caused the helicopter to change its flight plan and crash.