Tokyo:
A US F-15 fighter crashed in waters off Japan's southernmost Okinawa prefecture but the pilot was understood to have ejected safely, Japan's coast guard said today.
"We sent airplanes and patrol ships to the scene after we received a call for help from Kadena Air Base," a United States Air Force base and the hub of American air power in the Pacific, a coast guard official told AFP.
"We heard the pilot, the only person who was aboard, parachuted down and is safe, hanging on to something" in the sea, he said.
Okinawa is the reluctant host to more than half of the 47,000 American service personnel in Japan, and the crimes, noise and risk of accidents associated with their bases regularly provoke irritation locally.
"We sent airplanes and patrol ships to the scene after we received a call for help from Kadena Air Base," a United States Air Force base and the hub of American air power in the Pacific, a coast guard official told AFP.
"We heard the pilot, the only person who was aboard, parachuted down and is safe, hanging on to something" in the sea, he said.
Okinawa is the reluctant host to more than half of the 47,000 American service personnel in Japan, and the crimes, noise and risk of accidents associated with their bases regularly provoke irritation locally.
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