Japanese military searching for Black Hawk army helicopter that dropped off radar near Miyako island

Japan’s coast guard said it was searching Thursday for an army helicopter carrying 10 crew members that went missing off a southern Japanese island. The coast guard said it received information that a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter disappeared from radar on a mission Thursday evening in an area north of Miyako island.

Japan’s Kyodo News agency said coast guard ships had found traces of oil and debris that could be related to the missing helicopter, but officials declined to confirm the report. The coast guard said four patrol ships were participating in the search.

Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK said a senior commander from the country’s self defense force, 6th Division Chief Yuichi Sakamoto, had been among those on board the Black Hawk.

The disappearance near the Japanese island came as the country works to significantly bolster its defenses in response to China’s increasingly assertive military activity in the regional seas, where tension is also rising around Taiwan.

The Ground Self-Defense Force, or Japanese army, said the helicopter was from a base in Kumamoto prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu and was visiting Miyako island on a surveillance mission.

NHK said the helicopter disappeared from radar about an hour after it departed from a base on Miyako island and about half an hour before its scheduled return.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the Defense Ministry was investigating and that the government would “do our utmost to save their lives.”

American-made Black Hawks are flown by a number of militaries around the world. Last month, the U.S. Army said nine soldiers were killed in a mid-air collision involving two Black Hawks near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, during a routine training mission.