What appears to be the main part of a US military Osprey aircraft that crashed last week in waters off southwestern Japan and five bodies have been spotted underwater in search operations, a source familiar with the matter said, Report informs referring to The Mainichi.

The around-the-clock search and rescue operation, involving divers, continues after a US Air Force CV-22 crashed Wednesday near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, leaving a crew member dead and seven others missing.

Some pieces of the wreckage of the tilt-rotor aircraft, which went down during a training exercise near the island, were collected by a local coast guard and fishermen, and have been handed over to the US military.