All six bodies of crashed Japanese jet found

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TOKYO: The bodies of two crew members of a Japanese air force jet that crashed in mountainous terrain were found by rescuers on Friday, bringing the death toll to six, the defence ministry said.

The U-125 jet with six airmen on board left a military base in Kagoshima prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu on Wednesday afternoon, but later “disappeared from radar”, according to the ministry.

The cause of the crash is still unknown, but Defence Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters the ministry would investigate.

On Thursday, the bodies of four crewmen were found as some 600 rescuers, including troops and fire fighters, searched for the plane near the base in bad weather.