Eight people are feared dead after a US military helicopter crashed off the coast of Japan - with coastguards rushing to the scene as it plummeted to the sea.
The crash happened at around 2:47 p.m. local time, with local residents reporting the aircraft had fire blowing from its left engine as it fell into the sea, Arab News reports quoting Japanese broadcaster MBC.
The Mirror quoting officials said that the Japanese coastguard received a call at 2.47pm that a US military Osprey crashed off Yakushima Island, south of Japan's southernmost main island Kyushu. Local media said the Osprey was trying to land at Yakushima airport. It added that the plane was on fire.
"We received information at 2:47 pm (0547 GMT) today that the US military's Osprey crashed off Yakushima Island," a spokeswoman said.
"We were also notified that there were eight crew members onboard". she added. "There is no further information at the moment." An emergency call was received from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima and, according to local residents, the aircraft's left enginge was on fire when it plummeted to the sea. There are currently no details regarding the eight crew members. A rescue mission has since been launched