One of two Marines, rescued after a pair of warplanes collided in midair, has died, military officials said Thursday as rescue crews continued to search for five still missing.
TOKYO — One of two Marines, rescued after a pair of warplanes collided in midair, has died, military officials said Thursday as rescue crews continued to search for five still missing.
The crash happened while their crafts were refueling some 200 miles off Japan, U. S. and Japanese authorities said.
The planes, a KC-130 refueling aircraft carrying five crew members and an F/A-18 fighter jet carrying two, «came in contact» and crashed into the sea at around 1:42 a.m. Thursday (11:42 a.m. ET Wednesday), said Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary.
The Japanese Defense Ministry initially said that two of the seven Marines had been rescued. But one of those two has since died, Marine spokesman Capt.