Three US Marines were killed and 20 others injured when an aircraft crashed during a joint-nation training exercise in Australia on Sunday, officials said.
The MV-22B Osprey helicopter carrying 23 Marines went down on Melville Island around 9:30 a.m. local time (7:30 p.m. EST), 50 miles from the mainland city of Darwin.
Five seriously injured Marines were airlifted to Royal Darwin Hospital following a search and rescue mission, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said during the news conference.
An emergency aircraft was deployed to the remote area to evacuate the remaining injured, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy told reporters.
The Osprey was one of two helicopters flown from Darwin to Melville on Sunday.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) confirmed no Australian service members were on board the helicopter when it crashed.
Officials said cause of the crash is under investigation, and “recovery efforts are ongoing.”
“We acknowledge that this is a terrible incident,” Fyles said. “The Northern Territory government stands by to offer whatever assistance is required.”
All training operations have been paused.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered the nation’s full support in the wake of the “tragic” crash.
“Our focus as a government and a department of defense is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time,” Albanese told Sky News Australia.
Albanese said he could not provide any additional information but elaborated that the ADF is “cooperating with our friends at the United States Defense Force to make sure that we provide every assistance possible.”
The MV-22B Osprey is a hybrid between plane and helicopter operated by the US military capable of vertical takeoffs and landings.
The US Marine helicopter went down during Exercise Predator’s Run 2023 as part of a multi-nation training operation that includes military personnel from Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste, the outlet shared.
Roughly 2,500 people were involved in the exercises — 500 of whom are from the US.
The helicopter disaster is the second fatal Marine Corps-related aviation incident in less than a week.
Maj. Andrew Mettler died while piloting a F/A-18D Hornet on Thursday night during training near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California before he crashed, the Marine Corps confirmed.
With Post wires
