The Japan Coast Guard on Wednesday raided SGC Saga Aviation, the operator of an ambulance helicopter that crashed off Iki Island in Nagasaki Prefecture on Sunday, killing three people.
The raid on the aircraft operator based in neighboring Saga Prefecture was conducted by the Karatsu Coast Guard Office on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, in order to seize the helicopter's inspection records and investigate the cause of the accident.
A marine salvage company commissioned by SGC Saga Aviation began work Wednesday morning to lift the crashed aircraft out of the sea. The coast guard is set to investigate the helicopter body as well.
According to the coast guard and others, the helicopter departed Tsushima Airport in Nagasaki at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and was scheduled to arrive at a hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture at 2:15 p.m. that day. However, the helicopter operator lost track of the aircraft's location about 10 minutes after departure.
The helicopter was later found off the coast of Iki Island, and three of the six people onboard died, including an 86-year-old female patient and a 34-year-old male doctor.
Although the aircraft was equipped with an emergency locator transmitter, which sends distress signals, neither the transport ministry nor the coast guard received such signals, pointing to the possibility of equipment failure.
SGC Saga Aviation was involved in a separate helicopter accident in Yanagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, last July, in which two people, including the pilot, were killed.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.