An investigation is underway into the crash of a Marine V-22 Osprey in Australia on Sunday that killed three Marines with 20 others on the aircraft were injured, some critically..
The crash occurred during a multinational training exercise involving the militaries of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.
An Australian government official told the San Diego Union Tribune that 12 of the injured Marines were discharged by Monday and that the first five Marines to arrive at the hospital were critically injured and one underwent emergency surgery.
The Osprey is an aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but during flight can tilt its propellers forward and flies like an airplane. Officials say the aircraft cashed into tropical forest and burst into flame.
There have been five fatal crashes of Marine Ospreys since 2012, causing a total of 16 deaths. The most recent before Sunday's crash was in June 2022, when five Marines died in a fiery crash in Imperial County. The results of an investigation into that crash in July found that it was caused by a mechanical failure related to a clutch.
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Photo: AFP via Getty Images