At least three U.S. Marines have died after an Osprey aircraft crashed Sunday on a remote tropical island north of Australia’s mainland, U.S. military officials said.
“There were a total of 23 personnel on board. Three have been confirmed deceased while five others were transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious condition,” a U.S. Marines official said in a statement.
The marines’ Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed on the remote Tiwi Islands after 9 a.m., said Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.
“We are doing everything we can to return them safely to Darwin for treatment,” Murphy told a news conference in the territory’s capital, Darwin, adding that Australian Defence Force and the U.S. Marines were involved in the effort.
Australian personnel were not involved in the crash that occurred during Exercise Predator’s Run 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, calling the accident “tragic.”
“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 prime minister told a previously scheduled news conference in Western Australia.
The U.S. and Australia, a key ally in the Pacific, have been stepping up military cooperation in recent years in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
Four Australian soldiers were killed last month during large bilateral exercises when their helicopter crashed into the ocean off the coast of Queensland.