SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — A manhunt was under way on base and around Sasebo city Friday for the man who allegedly raped a sailor’s wife, the U.S. Navy and Sasebo police said.

The woman told police she was raped near the city hospital while walking to her home on base at about 3:30 a.m. Friday, according to police.

Police set up 12 checkpoints around the city that morning and by afternoon, all Navy base personnel were ordered to report to the base, including all people assigned to tenant commands and those on local leave and liberty.

Hundreds of sailors who arrived during the week aboard the USS Essex, Harpers Ferry, Juneau and Denver were required to report to their ships.

The base was "aggressively cooperating with Sasebo local authorities and taking all possible steps to identify the alleged offender of a reported rape," according to a statement Sasebo Naval Base released Friday night.

Most of the Sasebo police department was involved in the manhunt, the city police department said, and police were posted at main base gates throughout the day.

A passerby found the 43-year-old woman lying on the sidewalk near Sasebo General Hospital in Hirase-cho, a police spokesman said.

The woman told police her attacker was a stocky man about 6 feet tall and in his 20s.

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