Three U.S. Marines have been killed after a military helicopter carrying nearly two dozen U.S. personnel crashed during a joint training operation in northern Australia.
An MV-22B Osprey helicopter crashed while transporting troops on Melville Island, close to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, the U.S. Marine Rotational Force in the city said in a statement.
There were 23 Marines on board when the aircraft went down at around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, the force said in a statement published on social media. Three people have been confirmed dead, while five others are reported to be in a “serious condition.”
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“Recovery efforts are ongoing,” the U.S. military said, with the cause of the crash “under investigation.”
Five soldiers had arrived in Darwin for treatment with the rest receiving medical attention at the scene, Michael Murphy, the police commissioner for the Northern Territory area around Darwin, had previously said.
“Additional police and defense personnel have been deployed to Melville Island to support operations, triage injured people and return them to Darwin and also maintain the crash scene while investigations continue,” Murphy said.
Only U.S. personnel were involved in the “tragic” helicopter crash, Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said during a press conference, adding that the helicopter had crashed during this year’s Predators Run joint drills. The drills included military personnel from the U.S., Australia, Indonesia and other nations, and reportedly involved 2,500 soldiers.
“Obviously, this is a regrettable incident, [and] I’m unable to give further information at this time,” Albanese told reporters. “This is a difficult incident, we’re responding fully,” he continued.
“Our focus as a government and as 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,” the Australian leader said.
In late July, four Australian soldiers were killed during joint drills when a MRH90 helicopter crashed into the ocean during exercises with the U.S. military.
Five U.S. Marines were killed in June 2022 when an MV-22B Osprey crashed during a training exercise close to Glamis, California. In March 2022, four American soldiers died when another MV-22B Marine Corps helicopter crashed in a remote region during a NATO training exercise in Norway.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Marine Rotational Force in Darwin and the Pentagon via email for additional information.
Update 8/27/2023 2:53 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and comment.