3 US Marines die during Australia training

Three US Marines were killed and 20 others injured when an aircraft crashed during a joint-nation training exercise in Australia Sunday, officials said.

The MV-22B Osprey helicopter carrying 23 Marines went down on Melville Island around 9:30 a.m. local time, 50 miles from the north coast city of Darwin.

Five seriously injured Marines were airlifted to Royal Darwin Hospital following a search and rescue mission, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said.

An emergency aircraft was deployed to the remote area to evacuate the remaining injured, territorial

Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said.

The Osprey was one of two helicopters flown from Darwin to Melville Sunday.

The Australian Defence Force confirmed no Australians were on board the helicopter when it crashed.

The cause is under investigation, and “recovery efforts are ongoing.”

“We acknowledge that this is a terrible incident,” Fyles said. “The Northern Territory government stands by to offer whatever assistance is required.”

All training operations have been paused.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered the nation’s full support in the wake of the “tragic” crash.

“Our focus as a government and 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,” he told Sky News Australia.

The US Marine helicopter went down during Exercise Predator’s Run 2023, a multination training operation that includes personnel from Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.

It’s the second fatal Marine Corps-related aviation incident in less than a week.