A U. S. fighter jet that developed an engine fire Tuesday shortly after takeoff from Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan jettisoned a pair of fuel tanks into a lake near the base, the U. S. military said. While no injuries were reported, the F-16’s external fuel tanks
A U. S. fighter jet that developed an engine fire Tuesday shortly after takeoff from Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan jettisoned a pair of fuel tanks into a lake near the base, the U. S. military said.
While no injuries were reported, the F-16’s external fuel tanks fell into the lake with a huge splash some 400 meters from where clam boats were operating, according to Japanese government officials and local fishermen.
The incident led the Japanese government to urge the U. S. military to take thorough measures to ensure safety during its operations. Japan is home to around 50,000 U. S. military personnel, dispersed among facilities nationwide, including Okinawa.
«Ensuring the safety of local residents is the basic premise (in base) operations. We strongly urge the U. S. side to see that safety is ensured, the cause is investigated and measures are taken to avoid the same thing from happening again,» Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a parliamentary committee.
The F-16 fighter jet developed the engine fire around 8:40 a.m. and returned safely to Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture about three minutes later after discarding the two tanks.
Fuel tanks of this type are generally about 4.5 meters in length and about 1 meter in diameter and can weigh at least 200 kilograms even when empty. The two tanks are believed to have been attached to the underside of the wings.
The U. S. Air Force indicated in a statement that the fighter jet had confirmed that the area was «unpopulated» before jettisoning the tanks.
