5 missing Marines from aviation mishap declared dead
Missing crew members of warplanes that crashed off the coast of Japan have been declared dead; Lucas Tomlinson reports from the Pentagon as the search ends.
The five missing crew members of warplanes that crashed off the coast of Japan last week have been declared dead and the search for them has ended.
The U.S. Marines made the announcement late Monday. One Marine was rescued last Wednesday, and the body of another was found.
The planes — a F/A-18 jet and a refueling plane that had taken off from a base on Okinawa for a regularly scheduled training mission — crashed last week off Japan’s coast.
The crash is the latest in recent series of accidents involving the U.S. military deployed to and near Japan.
Last month, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan crashed into the sea southwest of Japan's southern island of Okinawa, though its two pilots were rescued safely. In mid-October, a MH-60 Seahawk also belonging to the Ronald Reagan crashed off the Philippine Sea shortly after takeoff, causing non-fatal injuries to a dozen sailors.
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson, Samuel Chamberlain and The Associated Press contributed to this report