Marine Osprey crashes off Qld

AUSTRALIA: US President Donald Trump has been briefed at his New Jersey golf club on the search for three missing US Marines off the Queensland coast after their military heli-plane crashed into the sea.

The MV-22 Osprey, carrying 26 personnel, was involved in what was described as a ‘‘mishap’’ on Saturday afternoon during a military exercise with Australian forces at Shoalwater Bay.

The Osprey had launched from the USS Bonhomme Richard amphibious assault ship and was conducting regularly scheduled operations when the aircraft entered the water.

The US Marines Corps said 23 personnel aboard were rescued and the search and rescue mission off the coast of Shoalwater Bay for the missing three was suspended yesterday afternoon.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said paramedics took an injured US marine from Rockhampton Airport to Rockhampton Base Hospital about 10pm on Saturday, with the patient having suffered a fractured leg.

Trump, on the first day of his planned 17-day ‘‘working vacation’’ at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, had been briefed on the crash by his new chief-of-staff John Kelly, a White House official told reporters.

Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne said

no Australian Defence Force personnel were on board the aircraft.

‘‘The United States are leading the search and recovery effort.’’

- Fairfax/AAP