A US Marine Corps aircraft carrying troops yesterday crashed on a north Australian island, killing three people and injuring 20 during a multination training exercise, officials said.
Three had been confirmed dead on Melville Island and five of the 23 on board were flown in serious condition 80km to the mainland city of Darwin for treatment after the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crashed at about 9:30am, a statement from the US Marines said.
“Recovery efforts are ongoing,” the statement said, adding that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
Photo: Sergeant Andrew Sleeman / Royal Australian Navy via AP
A US military official reported to Australian air traffic controllers a “significant fire in the vicinity of the crash site,” according to an audio recording of the conversation broadcast by Nine News television.
Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft had been deployed to return from the remote location with the rest of the injured, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said.
One of the injured was undergoing surgery at the Royal Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said about six hours after the crash.
“We acknowledge that this is a terrible incident,” Fyles said. “The Northern Territory government stands by to offer whatever assistance is required.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that only Americans were injured in the crash during Exercise Predators Run, which involves the militaries of Australia, East Timor, Indonesia, the Philippines and the US.
About 150 US Marines are based in Darwin and up to 2,500 rotate through the city every year. They are part of a realignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific that is broadly meant to face an increasingly assertive China.
The 12-day exercise is scheduled to end on Thursday next week. It involves troops on land, in the sea and in the air.
“The initial reports suggest that the incident involves just US defense force personnel,” Albanese said. “Our focus as a government and as the department of defense is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time.”
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