Three marines were killed when a US military plane crashed on an Australian island off the coast of the mainland in the north of the country, a US military official said Sunday.
The Marine Corps official said in a statement that the plane had “a total of 23 members on board. It was confirmed that 3 of them were killed, while 5 others were transferred to the Royal Darwin Hospital (Northern Australia) in serious condition.”
Earlier, the Australian Ministry of Defense announced that a plane carrying US military personnel had an accident during a training mission in Australia’s Northern Territory, while the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said that one of the injured was in critical condition.
Sky News Australia reported that a V-22 Osprey helicopter crashed off the coast of Darwin with about 23 US Marines on board.
The Fire and Emergency Services said Northern Territory Police had received reports of a plane crash on Melville Island.
The Ministry of Defense also said: “Initial reports indicate that the incident involved personnel from the US Department of Defense and was not related to personnel from the Australian Defense Force.”
She added that the accident occurred on Melville Island, north of Darwin, during a training mission called (Predators Run 2023).
The United States and Australia, one of its most important allies in the Pacific region, have stepped up military cooperation in recent years against an increasingly forceful China.
Four Australian soldiers were killed last month during a large bilateral exercise when a helicopter carrying them crashed into the ocean off the coast of Queensland.
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2023-08-27 07:33:38
