TOKYO (Reuters) - A U.S. military helicopter crashed in waters off the Japanese southern island of Okinawa, Japanese media reports said on Wednesday, adding there was no immediate information on possible casualties.
The reported accident comes as Japan's central government begins talks with Okinawa's governor over contentious plans to relocate a U.S. Marines air base to a less crowded part of the island, host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan. The U.S. Forces, Japan had no immediate comment.
Residents of Okinawa, the site of bloody battles between U.S. and Japanese forces near the end of World War Two, have long objected to tens of thousands of U.S. troops and U.S. military installations on 18 percent of their island.
(Reporting by Linda Sieg)
