TOKYO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Five people are dead and 4 are showing no vital signs of life following a helicopter carrying nine people crashing Sunday in a mountainous region of Nagano Prefecture in central Japan, local police said on Monday.
According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, police, firefighters and Japanese Self-Defense Force (SDF) personnel found the men in the crashed aircraft at around 8 a.m. local time on Monday.
The men police confirmed dead are one pilot and 4 firefighters who belong to Nagano Prefecture's Fire and Disaster Management and Aviation Center, NHK said.
Earlier Monday, local reports stated that the remaining four bodies had been found unconscious following the crash on Sunday of the helicopter in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture.
According to local officials and media at that time, 6 of 9 of those found after the chopper crash showed no vital signs, with the number rising from three people being confirmed dead after the crash in central Japan which occurred on Sunday afternoon.
The helicopter belonged to the local government and took off around 1:30 p.m. local time from Matsumoto airport for a mountain rescue drill, according to local reports on Sunday.
The helicopter was supposed to be conducting a training drill for rescuing climbers in the mountainous area, according to reports from local officials.
The police said the crashed chopper was found near Mt. Hachibuse, which straddles Matsumoto and Okaya Cities, at around 3:10 p.m.
The chopper was scheduled to land on the Takabocchi Plateau at 1:53 p.m.
The nine people aboard the helicopter included a pilot, seven fire fighters and an engineer.
Five people were found at the crash site and three of them were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others remained unconscious, local police had said at that time.
Police and firefighters had to suspend the search for the 4 other people missing after the crash, due to bad weather on Sunday evening, local officials said,
The transport ministry has sent officials to look into the cause of the incident, sources close to the matter said.
The Bell 412 EP helicopter belongs to Nagano Prefecture's Fire and Disaster Management and Aviation Center, local officials confirmed.
Local officials said on Monday that a regular inspection was conducted on the crashed Bell 412 EP helicopter in February and that no abnormalities were found.
