Explosion at US military base in Japan injures four Japanese soldiers

An explosion at a storage site for unexploded wartime ordnances at a US military base on Japan 's southern island of Okinawa injured four Japanese soldiers, though the injuries are not life threatening, officials said Monday.
The four soldiers had injuries to their fingers while working at a facility that belongs to Okinawa prefecture to store unexploded ordnance found on the island, where one of the harshest battles of World War II was fought, local officials said.
Prefectural officials said the injuries were not life threatening, but no other details were immediately known.
The Self Defence Force's joint staff said they were looking into reports of an explosion at Kadena Air Base that occurred while a team of Japanese soldiers that specialises in handling unexploded ordnance was working near or at the base.
The SDF said they are trying to confirm the cause of the accident and where it occurred.
Hundreds of tons of unexploded wartime bombs, many of them dropped by the U.S. military, remain buried around Japan and are sometimes dug up at construction sites and elsewhere.
In October, an unexploded wartime U.S. bomb exploded at a commercial airport in southern Japan, causing a large crater and suspending dozens of flights.

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2 days ago

• Daily Mail​

Fighter pilot reveals near miss with 'perfect rectangle' UFO that defied the laws of physics

A veteran US fighter pilot has broken his silence about a near-collision with a UFO that defied the laws of physics and left the Air Force in stunned disbelief. Major Ryan Bodenheimer, a retired F-15 and F-16 combat pilot, revealed in a YouTube video that one of the 'wildest experiences' of his career involved a close encounter with a rectangle-shaped UFO as he flew with his squadron over southern Wyoming. Bodenheimer, who served in the Air Force for 13 years, said the large craft suddenly appeared out of nowhere during a training mission and looked to be on a collision course with his plane. 'Then I realized we weren't going to hit, and all of a sudden it came more into view, and it was a rectangular shape. This was like essentially a perfect rectangle,' Bodenheimer revealed in his video on June 8. The military veteran described the UFO as being 30 to 50 feet in height and appearing to be glowing around the edges of its bright white body as it flew alongside the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's elite aerobatic demonstration squadron. Bodenheimer added that this craft had no visible vapor trail coming from an engine, no radar signal, and was traveling at approximately 400 knots (460 miles per hour). 'It really was defying any type of aeronautical laws that I've learned,' Bodenheimer said. Bodenheimer then revealed that his report to air traffic control left officials in 'dead silence' before the entire matter was apparently dismissed as an 'anomalous object.' The strange rectangle UFO got so close to Bodenheimer's F-16 Falcon at 30,000 feet in the air that he said he could make out every detail of the craft before it eventually flew off and was never seen again. When air traffic controllers in Denver asked Bodenheimer if he could give them any more details about the UFO, he revealed that it had a cream-colored interior that became transparent or had a hole in its center. 'I know it sounds like I'm talking about a delicious pastry, but this was the wildest experience I've ever had,' the fighter pilot joked. The only evidence of Bodenheimer's sighting was a report made by air traffic control saying that an object had been spotted in the area where the Thunderbirds were training that day, but he never heard from anyone about the incident again. The former combat officer explained on his channel, Max Afterburner, that this UFO could not have been a weather balloon, a high-tech drone, or some kind of light trick. 'There was nothing that made me think this was some sort of illusion. It was clear as day. It was right down our wing line, a 30 to 50 foot object,' the pilot continued. Bodenheimer then speculated whether this could have been an extraterrestrial craft, noting that he's never been a fan of 'science fiction' but admitted that his encounter matched many of the incidents involving military pilots that 'defied physics.' 'Going against aerodynamics definitely blows my mind. Anti-gravity, something that cloaks radar, I didn't see anything on the radar,' he added. The object wasn't even tilted to deflect the wind while traveling at that speed. It stayed completely vertical as if the wind did not affect the UFO's ability to fly at over 400 mph. Bodenheimer said that he has never heard about the UFO sighting since he reported it to officials with air traffic control in Denver This wasn't the only time the Air Force veteran had encountered a UFO. He added that 'lightning-fast triangle' while training with the Thunderbirds near Area 51 - the military's top secret base in Nevada. 'There's been lots of crazy stuff that's been reported out there,' Bodenheimer said. On this day, the mysterious jet-like object flew past Bodenheimer's F-16 as his squadron was coming in for a landing. 'This lightning-fast triangle blitzed past me as we were setting ourselves up on a final [approach],' the pilot revealed. 'I just remember this thing going massively fast past me... It had basically done an interceptor maneuver, a dust-off. So maybe this was its way of having fun, saying maybe this should be Top Gun 3,' Bodenheimer detailed. The pilot noted that he hopes coming forward will encourage more of his fellow pilots to reveal what they've seen during their time in the military, noting that there have been roughly 800 UFO reports in just the last four years.

Sky News

2 days ago

• Sky News

How are investigators looking into the Air India crash - and how long could they take?

The devastating Air India plane crash which killed 229 passengers and 12 crew has been labelled a "mystery" by experts. The Gatwick-bound flight, which was carrying 53 Britons, came down just after take-off from Ahmedabad airport in western India on Thursday 12 June, leaving only one survivor and also killing people on the ground. CCTV footage was captured of the crash, but experts say it has led to more questions than answers. An ongoing investigation will be reviewing the footage and other key evidence left in the crash's wake. But what are investigators looking at - and how long could it take? What is unusual about the crash? Air India Flight 171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport at 1.38pm local time on Thursday, and was only in the air for around half a minute. CCTV footage shows the plane struggling to gain altitude and it quickly begins to descend towards buildings, with its wheels still out and its nose raised. 0:56 It crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, killing at least 29 other people on the ground. According to flight-tracking website Flightradar, the aircraft reached a height of just 625ft before crashing. The plane was a 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which there are currently around 1,200 in operation worldwide. While other Boeing planes like the 787 Max have been plagued by high-profile safety incidents, this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of the Dreamliner model's operation, according to experts. 1:16 Several experts have told Sky News that they spotted potential anomalies in the footage. One of them was the landing gear, which appears to remain open throughout the clip. Former British Airways pilot Alastair Rosenschein and Paul Edwards, an aviation security analyst and fellow at the Royal Aeronautical Society, have told Sky News the landing gear should have been up and that this remains a mystery. 6:51 Mr Rosenschein is also among the experts who have called into question the aircraft's flaps, which need to be set correctly as they extend the shape of each wing and create vital extra lift at lower speeds to enable the plane to take-off and climb effectively. Some have also suggested a bird strike could be linked to the crash, but experts have pointed out that the aircraft has two engines and is designed to be able to fly on one, making this unlikely. What are investigators looking at? The investigation is being carried out by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) with assistance from the UK, the US and officials from Boeing. Anti-terror squads have also been part of the investigation teams, according to Reuters. Aurobindo Handa, former director general of AAIB, told Sky News that any theories about what may have caused the incident are at this point purely speculative. He says the most crucial thing for investigators was to retrieve the black boxes - or Digital Flight Data Recorders (DFDR) - from the crash site. Black boxes have two components - the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder - and provide crucial insights for crash investigators. They include altitude, airspeed, the status of controls and pilot conversations which help determine probable causes of crashes. They also store essential information about the configuration of the aircraft, including the flaps and landing gear. Mr Handa said that when there is a crash, the retrieval of the black boxes becomes the "primary focus" straight after first responders have carried out their rescue mission. It took investigators more than a day to recover the black boxes, longer than it took in many of the investigations Mr Handa oversaw, and he said this would have been because the aircraft was badly charred from fire. Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported that they were due to be sent to the US so the data could be extracted, as they had suffered fire damage and could not be analysed in India. The government said in a statement that the AAIB would decide where the recorders would be examined after making a "due assessment" of all technical, safety and security considerations. Mr Handa said analysing the boxes' raw data will take some time. "There are hundreds of components and instruments giving feedback to the DFDRs," he explained. "All the control services, all the engine parameters - everything goes into this." Investigators are also looking at the plane's remnants from the crash site, which they compare with the flight data when coming to conclusions. 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The Independent

2 days ago

• The Independent

Indian tigress dies after long battle with bone cancer

One of India 's most iconic wild tigers, Arrowhead of Ranthambore, has died after a long battle with illness, shortly after her daughter was relocated following fatal attacks. Arrowhead, also called Lady of the Lake for her crocodile hunting skills, was found dead near Jogi Mahal in the Ranthambore reserve in western India on Thursday. She was around 14 years old. The tigress, officially designated T-84, had reportedly suffered from a bone tumour. She had stopped eating on Monday and appeared extremely thin and weak in her final video. An autopsy confirmed multiple organ failure. Forest officials cremated her body following National Tiger Conservation Authority protocols, with a gathering of wardens, wildlife photographers, and local conservationists present. The tigress, named for the distinct arrow-shaped mark on her cheek, was known for her fierce independence and unusual hunting skills, including eating crocodiles. Just days before her death, she was reportedly seen taking down a crocodile near Padam Talab, in a powerful echo of her grandmother, Machhli, Ranthambore's most famous big cat and original 'crocodile hunter.' Arrowhead's final moments were captured by Sachin Rai, a wildlife photographer who had tracked her since she was a cub. 'It was heartbreaking to see her struggle, attempting to rise and take a few feeble steps before collapsing again,' he wrote in a post accompanying video footage. 'Eventually, she reached a tree and lay beneath it. In that quiet moment, I knew in my heart that the end was near.' Arrowhead was the daughter of tigress Krishna and had inherited a prime territory in the reserve around Padam Talab. She raised ten cubs from four litters, and six of them survive her. She had several confrontations with male tigers over the years and even her own daughter, Riddhi, who eventually displaced her. Arrowhead's death came just hours after another of her daughters, Kankati, was tranquilised and relocated to the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve. Kankati had recently been involved in fatal attacks on a forest ranger and a 7-year-old child. 'It is a disheartening coincidence that she passed away on the same day when her daughter was being shifted,' field director Anoop K R said, according to the Hindustan Times. Arrowhead's death sparked an outpouring of tributes. Ranthambore's Instagram account posted: 'She was a symbol of grace, strength and motherly spirit.' Mr Rai echoed the sentiment, calling her 'a true tigress in every sense'. 'Arrowhead was a symbol of wild grace, of power tempered by patience, of survival against all odds,' he said. For many in India's wildlife conservation community, Arrowhead's death marks the end of an era – another link to Machhli lost. Her legacy, though, is being carried forward by the next generation of big cats.