Japan Press Weekly

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2013 December 18 - 24 [US FORCES]

JCP in Kanagawa protests against US military copter crash

The Japanese Communist Party and civil groups in Kanagawa Prefecture are protesting against the crash of a U.S. navy helicopter in Kanagawa’s Miura City.

The MH-60 helicopter stationed at the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Station on December 16 crash landed and turned on its side at a landfill near residential areas in the Misaki district in the city.

Together with labor unions and peace groups, JCP members of municipal assemblies in Kanagawa Prefecture on December 18 submitted to the Atsugi base a statement protesting against the crash and demanding investigation into the cause of the crash and the suspension of flights of U.S. military aircraft.

The statement points out that although the accident occurred outside the base, Japanese police authorities are not allowed to question the crewmembers on board or impound the aircraft. It requests that Ospreys, which have greater frequency of accidents, should not be deployed at the base.

On the previous day, seven civil groups, including a labor union, a peace group, and a women’s group, jointly presented a written protest to the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base where the U.S. nuclear-powered carrier Gorge Washington, the mother ship of the crashed aircraft, is deployed.

In the protest, the seven groups pointed out that since the Japan-U.S. security treaty came into effect in 1952, the number of accidents involving U.S. military aircraft has reached 255. They urged the U.S. military to clear up the cause of the accident, stop flying choppers that type, and give all military aircraft complete overhauls.

Just after the helicopter crash, the mayors of Ayase and Yamato, the cities hosting the Atsugi Naval base, issued their statements demanding a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident. The mayor of Miura City where the accident took place also published a statement calling on the U.S. military to disclose pertinent information properly.

Past related article:
> US military helicopter makes forced landing in Kanagawa [December 17, 2013]