On April 7, residents expressed concern for the safety of 10 crew aboard a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force GSDF helicopter that went missing on April 6th off Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture, while hearing it fly lower than normal.
A 62 year-old man who runs an accommodation facility in Ikema Island north of Miyako Island, a missing helicopter flight route, felt something was wrong when he heard a helicopter flying unusually low on the evening of April 6.
I didn't see the helicopter, but I thought something had happened because the choppers around here usually fly higher than that. He said that when I saw the news, I was shocked. I hope they find the crew members as soon as possible, and I'm praying for their safety. A fisherman on the same island commented, There was a bit of wind yesterday, so I didn't put the boat out, but it wasn't really rough. The island of Ikema has diving shops and accommodation facilities and welcomes visitors in the tourist season. An official in the disaster prevention and crisis management division in the city of Miyakojima said, We're collecting information. The helicopter belongs to a unit under the 8th Division of the GSDF, which handles defense and security for the three prefectures of Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Kagoshima and is also deployed on an emergency basis to island areas. On April 7, reporters were gathered at Camp Kita Kumamoto in the city of Kumamoto, where the division is based.
The public relations response is handled exclusively by the Ground Staff Office, not here, according to the division's public relations office.