Search teams find three with no signs of life after plane crash in Japan

Three men were discovered in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest following a suspected plane crash in a mountainous region of Yame, located in Japan’s southwestern Fukuoka Prefecture.

The incident came to light after a local resident placed an emergency call at around 10:40 a.m., reporting that what appeared to be a Cessna aircraft had gone down and that black smoke was rising from the area. Police and fire crews launched search operations on a nearby mountain, where they subsequently located what appeared to be aircraft debris, Jiji Press reports.

The three individuals—believed to have been aboard the plane—were found near the presumed crash site, close to the border with Oita Prefecture. According to the Kyushu–Saga International Airport office in the city of Saga, the men were from Kyoto (two individuals) and Kobe (one individual), both cities in western Japan.

Authorities confirmed that the aircraft was not a Cessna but a Cirrus SR20, a five-seat single-propeller plane manufactured by US-based Cirrus Aircraft.

Emergency services continue to investigate the scene, while police are working to determine the circumstances leading to the apparent crash.

By Vafa Guliyeva