Tokyo: A medical transport helicopter crashed into the sea off southwestern Japan on Sunday, killing three of the six people on board, the coast guard said. The helicopter was en route from an airport in Nagasaki Prefecture to a hospital in Fukuoka
when it went down.
The pilot, a mechanic, and a nurse were rescued suffering from hypothermia but were conscious. The bodies of a doctor, the patient, and her caretaker were later recovered by a Japan Air Self-Defence Force helicopter. The coast guard deployed two aircraft and three vessels for the rescue operation. The cause of the crash
remains under investigation.