A CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft lands at Yokota Air Base, Japan, April 5, 2018. (Joseph Pick/U.S. Air Force)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — An unconscious person recovered in waters where a Yokota-based Osprey went down Wednesday afternoon has been confirmed dead, according to the Japanese coast guard.

The individual was found alongside an empty life raft and what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, a spokesman for the 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters told Stars and Stripes.

The person was discovered unconscious and not breathing at 4:41 p.m., about 1½ miles from Port Anbo on Yakushima, an island in Kagoshima prefecture, the spokesman said.

First responders provided CPR as the individual was taken to Port Anbo, where a doctor confirmed the death at 5:20 p.m., according to the coast guard.  

The Japanese coast guard found this life raft near an unconcious person after an Air Force CV-22 Osprey went down in waters in southwestern Japan, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Japanese coast guard)

It’s customary in Japan for some government officials to speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

A CV-22 assigned to Yokota disappeared from radar at 2:40 p.m., according to a spokesman for the Kyushu Defense Bureau, an arm of Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

The Air Force Osprey was assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing and was carrying eight crew when it crashed during a routine training mission, according to a news release from Air Force Special Operations Command.

The coast guard deployed six patrol boats and three aircraft for the search, the spokesman said. Six more boats were sent by the town of Yakushima.  

“We’re looking into the incident for more information before we give any details,” a spokesman for Yokota’s 374th Airlift Wing, Staff Sgt. Ryan Lackey, told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday afternoon.

The Japanese coast guard found a 20-person life raft near an unconcious person after an Air Force CV-22 Osprey went down in waters in southwestern Japan, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Japanese coast guard)

The wing referred subsequent questions to U.S. Forces Japan, also based at Yokota, which did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment that evening.

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara ordered his officials and Self-Defense Forces to work with the coast guard in the search-and-rescue efforts, the defense bureau spokesman said. Self-Defense Force aircraft have since joined those efforts.

The ministry is also requesting that the U.S. military provide additional information about the accident, the spokesman said. 

Yokota has been home to a squadron of Air Force CV-22 Ospreys since 2018.

Wednesday’s incident comes just three months after three Marines were killed when their MV-22B Osprey went down off Australia’s Northern Territory on Aug. 27. There were 23 aboard that aircraft.

Stars and Stripes reporter Mari Higa contributed to this report.