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Injured boy dies after medical helicopter botches landing in Kanagawa

TV Asahi
A medical helicopter botched its landing attempt after its tail broke upon contact with the ground in Hadano City (TV Asahi)

KANAGAWA (TR) – A critically injured high school boy died on Monday after the botched landing attempt of a medical helicopter that was scheduled to transport him to a hospital.

An air ambulance carrying five medical personnel botched its landing attempt after its tail broke upon contact with the ground in the Hirasawa area of Hadano City at around 2 p.m., TV Asahi reports (Aug. 9).

The helicopter was due to transport to a hospital Shunsuke Koga, 18, a third-grade high school student who was unconscious and in critical condition.

Koga was later rushed to a hospital for treatment, but his death was confirmed by nighttime.

Police are investigating the traffic accident Koga was involved in.

The Japan Transport Safety Board has dispatched aviation accident investigators to the botched landing site.

Yoshikatsu Shigeta, 48, who was near the botched landing site, told the Asahi Shimbun there was a “loud bang followed by alarms, so I came over to the site. The wind was pretty strong.”