1 Marine dead, five missing after aircraft crash in Japan

Tokyo/Washington, December 6

Five US Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan during an air-to-air refuelling exercise on Thursday, Japanese and American officials said.

Japan's defence ministry said its maritime forces had so far found two of the seven Marines who were aboard the aircraft - an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and a KC-130 Hercules.

One was in a stable condition at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, while the second had been found about 10 hours after the collision and brought aboard a Japanese military vessel, the ministry said, a ministry spokesman said. — Reuters