Defective U.S. military chopper removed from Okinawa beach, locals incensed at latest mishap

TOKYO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Unites States military personnel on Monday removed one of its helicopters from a sandy beach in Okinawa Prefecture where it made an emergency landing on Saturday, in the latest U.S.-military-linked aircraft accident to incense locals.

According to local media reports, U.S. personnel on Monday morning were making preparations to move the bulky air frame off the beach on Ikei Island, in Japan's southernmost prefecture, using heavy ropes attached to the fuselage of the chopper.

Later in the morning the disabled chopper was taken back to its base for further inspections, local officials said.

The U.S. Marine Corps said on Sunday that one of its helicopters, based at the controversial U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the main island of Okinawa, made an emergency landing on the small islet due to "indications of the main rotor moving at too high a speed."

The U.S. military's UH-1 heavy-lift transport helicopter made the emergency landing just 100 meters away from a residential house, renewing concerns and anger among locals in Okinawa about the safety of U.S. military hardware following numerous incidents of mishaps and accidents recently.

The U.S. Marine Corps said at the time of the emergency landing that none of the four crew members aboard the chopper were injured in the incident and a Marine Corps officer was quoted as saying that they were "grateful that no one was hurt and no property was damaged."

"The Marine Corps will rigorously investigate the cause of the incident," the officer added.

The Japanese Defense Ministry's local bureau chief Koichiro Nakajima told reporters after an inspection was conducted on the helicopter that safety would always be paramount.

"Flight safety is above everything else. We want the U.S. military to work toward that end," Nakajima said, adding that he had heard the vehement protests from the Ikei residents' association over the latest U.S. military-linked mishap.

The association said that if a U.S. military aircraft were to fall on residential property, then the damage would be huge and lives could be lost. The association urged the military to change its flight path.

In December, a resolution demanding all U.S. military flights over schools and hospitals be suspended was unanimously adopted by the Okinawa prefectural assembly.

The move by the prefectural parliament of Okinawa followed a window falling from a U.S. military helicopter in December and landing on the grounds of an elementary school, narrowly missing scores of children taking a sports class there.

"No more threat to the lives of people in Okinawa should be tolerated," part of the resolution states, with the same message of protest being carried by a number similar resolutions also adopted by municipal assemblies in Okinawa.

The resolution refers to other military-linked accidents in Okinawa, including a CH-53E helicopter crashing and catching fire near the U.S. military's Northern Training Area, just 300 meters away from a residential area in Okinawa in October.

Along with the resolution, a statement of protest was also sent by the assembly to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Ambassador William Hagerty highlighting the frequency of U.S. military-linked accidents in Okinawa.

According to the assembly, "A feeling of distrust is mounting among Okinawa people as these incidents vividly illustrate that the U.S. military's measures to prevent similar accidents are not functioning."

Ikei Island is located about 30 km northeast of Okinawa's capital city, Naha, and the rising unease among locals has contributed to a growing anti-U.S. sentiment on the small, sub-tropical island.

Okinawa hosts the bulk off U.S. military bases in Japan yet represents just a tiny fraction of Japan's total land mass.

Locals and officials in Okinawa want to see their decades-long base-hosting burdens lifted by some of the U.S. bases being relocated outside the prefecture or out of Japan completely. Enditem