A US military plane crashes off the coast of Australia. Image source: IANS News
Canberra, August 27: Three US Marines have been killed and 20 injured in a plane crash during a training exercise off the northern coast of Australia.
Marine Rotational Force (MRF) Darwin confirmed Sunday that three personnel are dead and five others are hospitalized in a serious condition after the MV-22 Osprey with 23 on board crashed at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time Sunday (2330). GMT on Saturday), according to the Xinhua news agency.
“Three have been confirmed dead while five others have been taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious condition,” it said in a statement.
“Resuscitation efforts are continuing. The cause of the accident is being investigated.”
The plane went down on Melville Island, about 60 kilometers north of Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, in the Timor Sea during a routine exercise.
Earlier, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy told reporters at a news conference that 23 Marines were injured in the incident.
“The wounded are 23 US Marines and we are doing everything we can to bring them safely back to Darwin for treatment,” he added.
“Additional police and defense personnel have been deployed to Melville Island to support operations, triage and return of casualties to Darwin as well as maintain the incident site while investigations continue.”
The Australian Ministry of Defense had confirmed earlier that all the personnel on board were Americans.
Source: IANS
Disclaimer: This story has not been edited by the WBSETCL team and is auto-generated from syndicated feed.
