A helicopter carrying a number of soldiers has gone missing off of a Japanese island.
The Ministry of Defence in Tokyo said that a Ground Self Defence Force helicopter which was circling Miyako Island, close to Taiwan, disappeared from the radar.
The Self Defence Force is conducting a search for the missing servicepeople.
One of the passengers was the army's 8th Division Commander Yuichi Sakamoto, local news reported this afternoon.
Reports say the helicopter was a UH60. Though there were no confirmation of the exact number of people on board, officials indicated there were several.
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The Japanese Coast Guard said the chopper disappeared from the radar at around 4.40pm on April 6 (08.40am).
Four patrol boats were dispatched to search the waters.
A major search operation has been launched (nhk)It comes amid heightened tensions in the seas around Japan, which North Korea has promised to make its "firing range" and bombarded with a number of missiles in recent weeks and months.
Citing South Korean military officials, local media last month reported that "at least one" short-range ballistic missile was fired towards the Yellow Sea, which lies between the Korean peninsula and mainland China.
Kim Jong-Un's sister threatened to make the "Pacific our firing range" after it launched two short-range ballistic missiles towards Japan at the end of February.
The move drew quick condemnation from the country's rivals and prompted Tokyo to request an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
The firings follow an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch and North Korea's threats to take an unprecedentedly strong response to US-South Korean military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.
Some experts say North Korea is pushing for more powerful weapons that it believes would increase leverage in potential negotiations with the United States.
Kim Jo-yong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, said Pyongyang would fire into the ocean depending on the actions of the US.
She said: "The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces' action character."
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It's currently unknown whether the two incidents are linked as details of the vanishing chopper are still thin.
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