Tokyo:

A US military plane carrying six people crashed into the sea off western Japan on Wednesday, killing at least one crew member, while the condition of at least two who were pulled from the water remains unclear.

Japan’s coast guard said it had found the wreckage of a tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and a man who was later confirmed dead about 3 km (2 mi) off Yakushima Island.

A representative of a local fisheries cooperative said that fishing boats in the area found three people in the surrounding waters, and their condition was unknown.

A local government spokesman said another Osprey landed safely at the island’s airport on Wednesday afternoon at the time of the crash.

A spokesman said US forces in the area were still gathering information.

The US has about 54,000 US troops in Japan, many of them in the strategically important southern island chain, amid growing Chinese military aggression in the South China Sea.

According to media reports, the crash occurred just before 3 p.m. (0600 GMT) and witnesses said it appeared as if the plane’s left engine had failed as it approached the airport for an emergency landing, despite clear weather and light winds. I have caught fire.

The Coast Guard increased the number of people on board the plane to six from the initially announced eight.

Yakushima is in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture, about 1,040 km (650 mi) southwest of the capital Tokyo and is known for its World Heritage-recognized wildlife and forests.

Reading: Danger of military conflict in the South China Sea

Japan, which also operates the Osprey aircraft, said Wednesday it had no plans to ground the plane but had asked the U.S. military to investigate the crash.

Developed jointly by Boeing (BA.N) and Bell Helicopter, the Osprey can fly as both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft and is operated by the US Marines, US Navy and Japan Self-Defense Forces.

The deployment of the Osprey in Japan has been controversial, with critics saying it poses a risk of accidents. The US military and Japan say it is safe.

In August, an American Osprey crashed off the coast of northern Australia while carrying troops during a routine military exercise, killing three US Marines.

Another crashed plane landed in the sea near Japan’s southern island of Okinawa in December 2016, prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft by the US military.