DND mourns death of Japanese soldier due to car crash

The Defense Department on Monday mourned the death of a Japanese soldier who died in a car accident on the Clark-Subic Expressway last week.

"The Department of National Defense extends its condolences to the family and loved ones of Sgt. Maehara Suguru who died in a most unfortunate vehicular accident while he was in our country as a member of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) contingent which is observing 'Exercise Kamandag,'" the DND said in a statement.

According to the DND, 'Exercise Kamandag' is "a counter-terrorism joint military exercise between the Philippines and the US and participating in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response portion of the activity."

An Agence France-Presse report earlier said Suguru Maehara, a 38-year-old sergeant of the Ground Self-Defense Forces, was involved in the accident on Tuesday last week, according to a GSDF spokesman who confirmed his death.

"It is the first time a GSDF member has died during an overseas drill," the spokesman told AFP.

Maehara was delivering food supplies to members participating in the drill when the accident happened.

The AFP report said the exercise "marked the first time Japanese armored military vehicles were used on foreign soil since the country adopted a pacifist constitution after its 1945 defeat."

But Japan was not involved in the combat component of the military exercises, the report added.

The DND statement said the ill-fated vehicle was driven by a Filipino civilian and that there was another Japanese soldier in it at the time of the accident. 

The driver and the Japanese soldier has since been released from the hospital after receiving treatment for their injuries, it added. — with Agence France-Presse/RSJ, GMA News