Debris suspected of being the wreckage of a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) UH-60JA helicopter are pulled out of the water by a work boat off the coast of the city of Miyakojima on the Miyako islands, Okinawa prefecture on May 2, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)
TOKYO — Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) has recovered the sixth body apparently from the accident involving a missing GSDF helicopter off the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, local media reported.
The body was discovered and pulled from the seabed on Monday when a private salvaging company moved the apparent wreckage of the UH-60JA helicopter underwater in preparation to salvage it, Jiji Press cited the GSDF as saying.
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The body appears to be that of an adult male, and his clothing suggests that he was a GSDF member. The GSDF is working to identify the body, it said.
Five bodies that were recovered following a deep-sea dive on April 16 have already been identified, it added.
On April 6, the chopper with 10 GSDF members onboard disappeared from radar in what's believed to be an aircraft accident at about 18 km northwest of an airport in Okinawa's Miyakojima Island.