U.S. military parachute falls onto school ground in Tokyo

TOKYO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. military parachute fell onto the ground of a middle school in Tokyo, Japan's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

The unfolded parachute, about 3 meters long, was found at the school tennis court by a student around 4:50 p.m. local time, according to local media. No damage or injuries have been reported.

The Defense Ministry said that it was briefed by the U.S. Air Force that the incident occurred during a parachute drop training at the Yokota Air Base near Tokyo.

According to the U.S. military, one of its paratrooper cut off his main chute after it failed to open and used his spare chute to land during the training, while the unfolded main chute was later found in the school.

The incident rekindled safety concerns among residents over U.S. bases in Japan, following a string of incidents including a window falling from a U.S. military aircraft onto a school playground near a U.S. base in Okinawa in December last year. Enditem