Man Believed to be a Pilot Dies in Helicopter Crash Near Tokyo
A small helicopter crashed in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the morning of Oct. 7, and a man believed to be the pilot was confirmed dead at a hospital, according to the east Japan city’s fire department.
The helicopter crashed on a grassy area in the city’s Imaizumi district at around 6:45 a.m. on Oct. 7. According to a source close to the investigation, the man is a doctor living in the east Japan city of Utsunomiya, and some reports said that he was piloting the helicopter from the town of Oi, Kanagawa Prefecture, to a heliport in the city of Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, to administer coronavirus vaccines in the prefecture. Kanagawa Prefectural Police’s Hadano Police Station said that no one else was involved in the accident and it is investigating the cause of the crash while hurrying to confirm his identity.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, the helicopter had taken off from a heliport in Oi at around 6:35 a.m. The ministry’s Japan Transport Safety Board will dispatch two aircraft accident investigators to the site to examine the scene.
