TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Defense Ministry said Friday it will allow the U.S. military to fly Ospreys in Japan, accepting U.S. assurances that the tilt-rotor aircraft is safe despite a fatal crash off the coast of Australia last week.
The decision came a day after the U.S. Marine Corps said in a statement that it had determined that Ospreys are "safe to fly," resuming operations after a 48-hour pause.
An MV-22 Osprey crashed off the eastern coast of Australia on Saturday, leaving three U.S. Marines dead. The crashed plane was one of the Ospreys deployed at the Futenma air base in Japan's southernmost island prefecture of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in the country.
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