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Eight people had been rescued, with the remaining three unaccounted for, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported. A spokesman for the U.S. Navy in Japan said that it had no information on whether anyone on board had been picked up.
| U.S. Navy plane crashes in Philippine Sea with 11 crew and passengers |
“USS Ronald Reagan is conducting search and rescue operations. The cause of the crash is not yet known,” it said in a press release.
Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera told reporters the U.S. Navy had informed him that the crash in the Philippine Sea may have been a result of engine trouble.
The propeller powered transport plane, a C-2 Greyhound, carries personnel, mail and other cargo from mainland bases to carriers operating at sea.
C-2 planes have been in operation for more than five decades and are due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft.