US Navy Chopper Crash: Second this Year, Increases Fear of Resentment among Japanese

US Navy helicopter MH-60 crash-landed near the port of Misaki in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan on Monday afternoon. Two of the crew members have sustained severe injuries, according to a Japanese daily.

The flight crew had four members onboard, when it crash-landed in a landfill. The Japan Times reported that the Kanagawa Prefectural Police said two men in the chopper sustained broken bones but no one else was hurt when the MH-60 made the emergency landing.

The MH-60 helicopter crash-landed just after 3:30 pm, turning topsy-turvey, but luckily there was no fire after the impact, the daily reported. The crew attempted emergency landing after the losing control of the chopper. The police have restricted access to the crash site, in accordance with a bilateral agreement on off-base accidents involving the US military. The agreement was made following the 2004 crash of a US military helicopter at a university in the Okinawa Prefecture.

Since 2004, there has been a growing resentment among the Japanese locals over the US Military flight operations in dense areas of the city. Since the nuclear bombing in 1945, the US military bases have remained in Kanagawa, including Camp Zama (Army), Yokosuka Naval Base, Naval Air Station Atsugi (Navy). There has been several accidents over the year in the military base areas, which are also densely populated often leading to volatile stand-offs between the locals and the US army.

Earlier on August 5, a HH-60 helicopter in Okinawa Prefecture had crashed ,which again had again fuelled the protests over moving the US army bases to less populated areas.

Following Monday's accident, fearing a public backlash, the Japanese Prime Minister's office has setup a task force to investigate into the cause of the accident.