Eight people have been rescued and are in “good condition” after a U.S. Navy cargo plane carrying 11 crew members and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan, the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said Wednesday.
The search for the remaining three people is continuing.
It was the latest accident to befall the 7th Fleet, which is based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, and has endured multiple collisions at sea this year, including two that involved guided-missile destroyers and left 17 sailors dead.
The C-2A Greyhound aircraft was on a routine flight from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southern Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is in the Philippine Sea for exercises with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.
It crashed at 2:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, the 7th Fleet said in a
statement. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, it said, and an investigation will be conducted.