TOKYO — A United States Navy aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed Wednesday southeast of Okinawa, Japan, the fifth accident this year for the Seventh Fleet, the Navy’s largest overseas fleet.

Eight of those aboard were rescued, and American and Japanese naval forces were searching for the other three, the Seventh Fleet said in a statement.

The aircraft, a C2-A Greyhound propeller cargo plane, was on its way to the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier engaged in joint exercises with Japan’s navy in the Philippine Sea, when it crashed, according to the statement. The plane had been making a routine transport flight from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, the statement said.

The eight personnel rescued were undergoing medical evaluation on the Ronald Reagan and were in good condition, the statement said. It said the crash would be investigated.