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Japan's missing air force jet found downed in Kagoshima Prefecture: reports

Xinhua, April 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan's Ministry of Defense (MOD) said Thursday afternoon it had found an Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) jet that disappeared from radar a day earlier in a mountainous region in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, according to local reports.

Preliminary reports from the ministry and local media said that its six occupants were found in a state of cardiac arrest, with more details of injures and fatalities still pending.

An eye witness reported seeing smoke rising from the Takakuma area near the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces' (JASDF) Kanoya airbase in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to local reports, but searches were initially hampered by heavy fog and inclement weather.

The U-125 jet belongs to the Flight Check Squadron at the ASDF's Iruma airbase in Sayama in Saitama Prefecture, the MOD confirmed, adding that the ASDF lost contact with the small plane from its radars at around 2:35 p.m. local time on Wednesday, some 11 km north of the Kanoya airbase.

The plane departed the base shortly after 1 p.m. and was scheduled to return around 4 p.m.

SDF helicopters had been combing the area to find the missing plane. Endit