The US should be ashamed of its lack of control over its activities in Okinawa, the island’s governor said, referring to a series of incidents involving US military aircraft which has caused serious concern among locals.
“I want them [the US military] to feel ashamed of their inability to be in control of what they are doing,“ Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga said on Tuesday, as cited by AFP. “I am lost for words, really,” Onaga said, reacting to recent incidents on the island, which is home to nearly 1.1 million residents.
One of the latest incidents involving US aircraft took place on Monday. An AH1 attack helicopter made an emergency landing on the premises of a hotel in the village of Yomitan after a warning light had come on. The site is some 300 meters (980ft) from residential homes.
Later it was revealed that the incident was allegedly caused by a glitch in the tail rotor, Japanese media reported. Also on Monday, a US heavy-lift transport chopper evacuated a disabled US helicopter which had landed on a beach on the eastern coast of Ikeijima Island, near Okinawa, on Saturday.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis apologized to his Japanese counterpart, Itsunori Onodera, over the Monday incidents, a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman told AFP.
