A US chopper, reportedly carrying around 20 US marines, crashed on Sunday during military drills in Australia's Tiwi Islands, resulting in the killing of at least three. According to Australian state broadcaster ABC, among those on board, several got injured seriously while the reports for others were yet to be known. But it added a few of them have been rescued.
The report claimed that the aircraft crashed on the remote Melville Island-- nearly 60km off the coast from Darwin.
According to the report, more than 2,500 troops from the US, Australia, Philippines, Timor-Leste and Indonesia are currently taking part in the exercise on the Tiwi Islands.
Three had been confirmed dead on Melville Island and five of the 23 on board were flown in serious condition 80 kilometres to the mainland city of Darwin for hospital treatment after the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crashed around 9:30 a.m. local time, a statement from the Marines said.
Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft had been deployed to return from the remote location with the rest of the injured, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said.
One of the injured was undergoing surgery at the Royal Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said around six hours after the crash..
Some were critically injured and were being triaged on arrival at Darwin’s airport, she said.
“We acknowledge that this is a terrible incident,” Fyles said. “The Northern Territory government stands by to offer whatever assistance is required.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said only Americans were injured in the crash that happened during Exercise Predators Run, which involves the militaries of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.
“The initial reports suggest that the incident involves just U.S. defence force personnel,” Albanese said. “Our focus as a government and as the Department of Defence is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time,” he added.
Melville is part of the Tiwi Islands, which along with Darwin are the focus of the exercise that involves 2,500 troops. The Osprey that crashed was one of two that had flown from Darwin to Melville on Sunday, Murphy said.
Around 150 U.S. Marines are currently based in Darwin and up to 2,500 rotate through the city every year.
The U.S. military was also taking part in a multination military exercise in July when four Australian personnel were killed in an army MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crash off the northeast Australian coast.
(With inputs from agency)
