A KC-130 and an F/A-18 faced a head-on collision during a mid-air refueling exercise that was taking place Thursday morning. According to US Corps based at Iwakuni, a city located at the southern end of Honshu in Japan, this is one of the regularly scheduled drills that the Marines undergo and a very challenging one as well. The incident cited as a ‘mishap’ by the American base claims that there were totally seven Marines on board including 5 in KC-130 and 2 in the other.
Search and rescue operations continue for a KC-130 and an F/A-18 that were involved in a mishap off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 a.m. Dec. 6.
The circumstances of the mishap are currently under investigation.
Media can contact @IIIMEF at [email protected].
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) December 5, 2018
The search operations began almost immediately wherein two of the seven were rescued by the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force who came to lend a helping hand almost instantly after the crash. The search continues as five of the others involved in the incident are still missing. With an increase in the number of airplane accidents that have been happening in recent times, the locals surrounding the American base seem to be agitated and angered.