TOKYO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Flight operations of the U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E transport helicopters were resumed Wednesday amid local protests and opposition from the central government, following a crash of one of the choppers a week earlier in Okinawa.
According to local media reports, a CH-53E took off Wednesday morning from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa, where the helicopters are based.
Despite the U.S. Marines confirming on Tuesday the safety of the CH-53Es, the resumption of the helicopters' flights has drawn harsh criticism from both local and central governments who had been waiting for further clarification on the safety of the choppers.
Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said in a statement that the U.S. military's decision was "reckless and utterly intolerable."
He added the U.S. military had "failed to clarify the cause of the CH-53E's crash-landing a week ago and what measures would be taken to ensure that such a mishap does not occur again."
Onaga, according to local reports, also implored the central government to "take further action."
Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera reiterated Onaga's sentiments in saying that a full explanation of the helicopter's crash had not been provided by the U.S. military nor the reason why it believes the helicopters are safe to fly again.
"It is extremely regrettable that the same type of helicopter as the one that crash-landed is flying again when the central government has not been provided with sufficient information as to why the U.S. military had judged CH-53Es were safe to operate," Onodera told a press briefing in Tokyo.
While Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, the commanding general of U.S. Marine Corps Forces in Japan, said following the crash that a "96-hour operational pause" would be applied to all CH-53E helicopters, Onodera had demanded the choppers be grounded for an "indefinite period" of time until their safety could be ensured.
