Deep-sea search to begin for missing MSDF helicopters

Two Maritime Self-Defense Force-MSDF helicopters collided and crashed into waters off Torishima Island during nighttime training on 20th April. The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, will begin the search as early as the start of July, at the request of Japan's Defense Ministry.

Flight recorders from both helicopters and pieces of the aircraft have been retrieved. But their main parts are believed to be lying on the seabed at a depth of about 5,500 meters. JAMSTEC will use Deep Tow, a deep ocean floor survey system equipped with sonar and cameras, to search a wide area of the ocean floor. Deep Tow has often been used in underwater searches in past accidents.