TOKYO – A US Navy transport plane carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed in the Pacific Ocean off Japan on Wednesday afternoon.
The C-2 aircraft was heading to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is currently in the Philippine Sea on exercises with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force when it crashed at 2:45 p.m. local time, the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement.
The USS Ronald Reagan conducted a search operation and rescued 8 out of 11 on board, but the names of those aboard were being withheld.
The reasons behind the crash are still unclear.
Japanese Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera told newsmen that the US Navy had informed him that an engine trouble might have led to the crash in the Philippine Sea.
The propeller-powered transport plane carries personnel, mail and other cargo from mainland bases to carriers operating at sea.
The aircraft has been in operation for more than five decades and was due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft.
