A United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying troops crashed on a north Australian island Sunday, killing three Marines and injuring 20 during a multination training exercise, officials said.
together to transport the injured from a remote island to hospital in the northern city of darwin, the military said 23 u.s. marines were flying in an mv 22 b osprey when it crashed. many were injured. five severely. we ll get to the latest now from sidney. angus what more are you learning. reporter: to give you a sense how remote the region is where this tragic incident occurred sunday morning, millville island is 80 kilometers off the coast of australia. plane crashed in a hill shied in dense vegetation in a very sparsely populated area. that made the rescue and recovery mission the more difficult.
reporter: all 20 survivors rushed from the remote location to the city of darwin where eight remain in hospital. u.s. ambassador to australia, caroline kennedy praised australia s swift response and ongoing support. this tragedy and the recent loss that australia also suffered reminds us all how grateful we are to those who serve in uniform. reporter: the crash occurred sunday off the coast of northern australia after the aircraft left darwin and flew towards the tiwi islands 50 miles away. at a time like this, we reach out to our american brothers and sisters in order to express our condolences. reporter: some 2500 personnel from the u.s., australia and nearby countries were taking part in training exercises. this is not the first fatal accident involving the as sprow. a tilt rotor hybrid which can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane. in june last year, five marines
so that is interpreted by the black community in the same way that he wanted his kin, his nazi kin, to interpret it. juliette, great to have your insights today. thank you. developing this morning, three u.s. marines were killed and 20 others injured after their aircraft crashed during military exercises in northern australia. now, australian police say the marines were flying in a u.s. osprey helicopter when it crashed on an island 50 miles north of the city of darwin. cnn s angus watson joining us live from sydney with more. what do we know about the circumstances of this crash? reporter: well, this tragic incident happened some ten hours ago. but information has been slow to come out. it s only just recently just in the last couple of hours that we ve come to grips with the
military exercises in northern australia. australian police say the marines were flying in a u.s. osprey helicopter when it crashed on an island 50 miles north of the city of darwin. and we are joined now from sydney with more. angus, what do we know about the circumstances of the crash and the osprey helicopter does have a controversial history? reporter: it does. and this happened some 12 hours ago now. but information has been slow to come out. we still don t know why this osprey crashed. what we do know is that three marines have lost their lives. 20 injured, five of those have been hospitalized. one person needed surgery. this all happened as the united states and australia are doing these drills. this was a routine drill that involved two osprey aircraft,