Five US Marines went missing after two planes collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan, in what US officials said may have been a failed refueling training. The Japanese Defense Ministry said its maritime forces had so far found two of the seven Marines who were aboard the plane - an F / A-18 Hornet and KC-130 Hercules fighter. One was in stable condition at Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station, while the second was found about 10 hours after the collision and taken aboard a Japanese military ship, the ministry said. No other details were known about the second marine, a ministry spokesperson said. Search and rescue efforts continued for the remaining five. The incident adds to a growing list of U.S. military air crashes around the world in recent years. The Military Times reported earlier this year that plane crashes have risen nearly 40 percent from 2013-2017. At least 133 military personnel died in such incidents. US military incidents are a sensitive topic in Japan, particularly for residents of the southern Okinawa prefecture, which is home to the majority of the US presence in the country. A series of emergency landings and parts of aircraft falling on homes highlighted clear safety concerns. The Marine Corps reported in a statement that the incident occurred around 2 am local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast. The two aircraft had departed from Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station and were undergoing regular training. At the moment the causes of the accident are not known. An American official, reported that it occurred during fueling training, an investigation was opened.
