File picture shows Japan’s Self-Defense Force’s F-15 fighter jets (top and second from top) conducting an air exercise with US Navy F/A 18 Hornet aircrafts in the skies above the Sea of Japan, November 13, 2017. — Air Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan/Handout via Reuters
TOKYO, Feb 13 — Japan’s airforce said today that it had recovered the body of one of two crewmen of a fighter jet that went missing two weeks ago.
The F-15 fighter jet was on a training mission on January 31 when it disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Komatsu airbase in the central Ishikawa region, sparking a search for its missing crew.
The airforce said a body was found on Friday by the navy during search operations in the Sea of Japan.
The military said it has confirmed the identity of the body, but did not release the name and added that the search for his co-pilot continued.
Exactly why and how their plane crashed has not been made clear, but the defence ministry has not sought to ground F-15s in the wake of the incident.
Japan has occasionally seen accidents involving its airforce.
In 2019 an F-35A stealth jet crashed into the sea after the pilot suffered spatial disorientation, sparking a scramble to recover the body and sensitive military equipment onboard the plane. — AFP