3 US marines dead on Australia island, 20 injured, after plane crash during war drills
- Five marines ‘in a serious condition’ were flown to hospital in northern Australia’s Darwin from the accident on a remote island, US officials said
- There were 23 personnel on board the Osprey aircraft, taking part in drills with militaries from Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor
A United States Marine Corps aircraft crashed on an Australian island on Sunday, killing three marines and injuring 20 during a multinational training exercise, US officials said.
Three were confirmed dead on Melville Island and five of the 23 on board were flown in “serious condition” 80km (50 miles) to the northern mainland city of Darwin for hospital treatment after the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed around 9:30am local time, a statement from the Marines said.
Australian police said they were triaging the rest of the injured crew at the scene.
“There were a total of 23 personnel on board,” US officials said. “Three have been confirmed deceased while five others were transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious condition.”
Rescue efforts were complicated by the location of the crash on the remote and sparsely populated island.
US military officials told Australian air traffic controllers there was a “significant fire in the vicinity of the crash site”, according to an audio recording of the conversation broadcast by Nine News television.