Two crew feared dead in Japan army helicopter crash

Two crew were feared dead yesterday after a Japanese military helicopter crashed in a residential area in the southwest of the country, setting a home on fire.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera confirmed the crash in the town of Kanzaki and said the two crew on board were retrieved "in a state of cardiac and respiratory arrest," Jiji news agency reported.

The language is often used by Japanese officials before deaths are officially confirmed.

Japan's NHK television showed a thick plume of grey smoke rising from the site of the crash in between the rooftops of local houses.

Local firefighters could be seen running through the streets with red firehoses as people were evacuated from the area.

"I heard something like a rumbling of the earth," a woman living near the crash site told NHK.

"I rushed out there and saw a blaze and black smoke. It's impossible that this happens in such a place."

Onodera earlier told reporters the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter had gone down in Japan's Saga region and "burst into flames."

Local officials confirmed the crash site was a residential area, adding one home had caught fire. The local fire authority said it had dispatched 14 fire engines and three ambulances to the site.