Tokyo - (Saba):
An ambulance helicopter crashed into the sea off the coast of southwestern Japan, killing three people and saving three others.
The Japanese Coast Guard announced in an official statement on Monday that among the dead were the patient on board, her companion, and a doctor.
According to the statement, the rescue team was able to save the pilot, Hiroshi Hamada, 66, mechanic Kazuto Yoshitake, and nurse Sakura Kunitake, 28, who were found clinging to inflatable life jackets in the water.
An unidentified Coast Guard official told the Associated Press that the three survivors were suffering from hypothermia but were fully conscious at the time of their rescue. The bodies of 34-year-old doctor Kei Arakawa, 86-year-old patient Mitsuki Motoichi, and her companion, 68-year-old Kazuyoshi Motoichi, were later recovered by a Japan Air Self-Defense Force helicopter.
The Coast Guard confirmed that search and rescue operations involved the deployment of two aircraft and three vessels to the area. The helicopter was en route to a hospital in Fukuoka City from an airport in Nagasaki Prefecture when the accident occurred. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, the Coast Guard announced Monday.
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