TOKYO (AP) – A U.S. Army helicopter crashed while landing on a Navy ship Wednesday off Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, injuring seven people and damaging the aircraft, officials said.
The H-60 helicopter made a hard landing on the USNS Red Cloud cargo vessel around 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of Okinawa, U.S. Forces Japan said in a statement, adding that the cause was under investigation. Okinawa is home to most of the tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Japan.
The injured were transported to a Navy hospital, the statement said. Their conditions were not immediately clear.
The other 10 people aboard the helicopter were not hurt, said Japanese coast guard spokesman Shinya Terada.
Japanese national broadcaster NHK showed video of the helicopter sitting on the cargo ship, with its tail broken off and its body partly covered with an orange tarp.