3 US marines killed & 5 ‘fighting for life’ after military helicopter crashes during exercises in Australia

Three US marines have been killed and 20 injured after a military helicopter crashed during exercises in Australia. The ill-fated MV-22B Osprey came down en route to the remote Tiwi islands north of Darwin on Sunday (August 27), which also left five in serious condition.

According to a report by the BBC, the marines were taking part in Predators Run, involving 2,500 troops from the US, Australia, the Philippines, East Timor, and Indonesia. Only US personnel were on board the aircraft.

Describing the incident as “tragic”, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said every assistance would be given to the injured. He said: "Our focus as a government and as a department of defence is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time,"

Local police commissioner Michael Murphy said: "Five marines have been returned to Darwin for treatment with the remaining being triaged at the scene.

"Additional police and defence personnel have been deployed to Melville Island to support operations, triage injured people and return them to Darwin and also maintain the crash scene while investigations continue."

The incident is the second fatal helicopter crash during joint exercises in northern Australia in less than a month, according to the BBC.

On July 29, four Australian soldiers were presumed dead after their 45 MRH-90 Taipan crashed off the coast of Queensland while participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre, Australia and the United States’ largest bilateral military training exercise.

The Osprey is a hybrid that combines helicopter and turboprop plane elements to move far quicker than a regular helicopter.

However, it has a troubled past, with a deadly crash in Norway last year killing four marines. Three other people were killed in 2017 after their plane collided with the back of a transport ship off the coast of northern Australia.