Ships, aircraft search Philippine Sea for 3 missing in crash
TOKYO — U.S. and Japanese ships and aircraft were searching in the Philippine Sea on Thursday for three sailors missing since a U.S. Navy aircraft crashed a day earlier.
Eight people were rescued about 40 minutes after the crash of the C-2 “Greyhound” transport aircraft Wednesday afternoon, the Navy said. They were taken aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and were in good condition.
The C-2A twin-propeller plane came down about 500 nautical miles (925 kilometres) southeast of Okinawa as it was bringing passengers and cargo from Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, the Navy said in a statement. The cause wasn’t clear but the crash would be investigated, the Navy said.
The Reagan was participating in a joint exercise with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force when the plane crashed.