A small plane carrying four U.S. airmen burst into flames after making an emergency landing on Okinawa, leaving the pilot with minor injuries, officials said Saturday.
The four-seater Cessna 172 landed in a sugar cane field in Nago during a private flight Friday, igniting as soon as it hit the ground and cracking its nose cone, Okinawa police official Hideki Taira said.
The pilot, identified only as a 45-year-old airman from Kadena Air Base, suffered a broken jaw, Taira said. The three others were rescued unharmed.
Police were interviewing the men Saturday to determine the cause of the accident, Taira said, adding that investigators believe the plane ran low on fuel while it was returning to the base.
The plane cut a power line in the neighborhood where it crashed, temporarily leaving hundreds of households without electricity.
Okinawa is home to more than half the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan.