A search continued Thursday for an Air Self-Defense Force training aircraft that crashed shortly after takeoff from an ASDF base in Aichi Prefecture a day earlier, with the jet's two crew members feared dead.
Aerial, underwater and ground searches at the crash site — a large reservoir in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture — have recovered a seat and other pieces of the T-4 training aircraft as well as some of the crew's equipment, including part of a helmet, Defense Ministry officials said. Oil slicks had earlier been spotted floating on the surface of the reservoir.
Speaking during an Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting Thursday, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani apologized for the accident and pledged that his ministry will do its utmost to recover the crew and aircraft.
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