INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Eight people have been rescued after a US Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed off the coast of Japan, the defence ministry has said.
It says that preliminary US military reports indicated that engine failure may have caused the crash.
The Navy did not say what kind of aircraft was involved, but Japan's Self-Defense Forces have said it was a C-2 transport aircraft.
The aircraft was travelling to a US aircraft carrier in the Philippine Sea.
Japanese and American rescuers raced to get to the stricken plane, which ditched in seas off the remote Japanese reef of Okinotori.
