TOKYO  - U.S. military Ospery aircraft has crash-landed off Japan's southern island of Okinawa, but its five crewmembers were safely rescued.

The U.S. Marine Corps. said Wednesday that an MV-22 Osprey, tilt-rotor aircraft landed in shallow water off Okinawa's east coast late Tuesday. They said in a statement the crewmembers were airlifted to a Navy hospital at the Kadena Air Base for treatment. Japanese defense officials said two of them sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

The crash just off Nago City triggered protests on Okinawa, where anti-U.S. military sentiment is strong. It also comes one week after a Marine Corps pilot died after his F/A-18 fighter jet crashed off western Japan.

Japan's Defense Ministry asked the U.S. military to suspend Osprey flights until the cause of the accident is known.