HELSINKI – Four U.S. Marines were killed when their Osprey plane crashed in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise unrelated to the Russian war in Ukraine, authorities said on Saturday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere wrote on Twitter that they had died in a crash on Friday evening. The cause was under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area.
The Marines assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II Marine Expeditionary Force, participated in a NATO exercise called Cold Response.
The U.S. says the identities of the Marines are not directly available in accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy of notification of family members.
The aircraft was an MV-22B Osprey. It “had a crew of four and was on a training mission in Nordland County” in northern Norway, the country’s army said in a statement.
It was heading north to Bodoe, where it landed on Friday at 6 p.m. Osprey fell in the Graetaedalen valley in Beiarn, south of Bodoe. Police said a search and rescue mission was launched immediately. At 1:30 a.m. Saturday, police arrived on the scene and confirmed that the crew of four had been killed.
The Cold Response Fountain contains approximately 30,000 troops, 220 aircraft and 50 ships from 27 countries. Non-NATO members Finland and Sweden also participate. Exercises began on March 14 and ended on April 1.
No cause was given for the crash, but the Norwegian military said Cold Response “will continue as planned, with the measures we will have to take due to the weather.”
A Norwegian rescue helicopter saw the accident late Friday and local Red Cross crews were called in to help police on the ground, Norwegian media said.
Norwegian newspaper VG said that Red Cross members were driving close to the accident with scooters and marked the track with GPS for the police and what they described as extremely difficult weather conditions early Saturday.
“It was a special night, it was a real storm. We were five of us driving to the scene of the accident. It was a meter of visibility, snow and storm in the mountains,” Red Cross team leader Oerjan Kristensen told VG . “I think it was a gust of wind at 30-40 meters per second. When it’s blowing like that, it’s hard to stand up.”
Kristensen added that the rescue operation is hampered by the risk of landslides in the mountains, within walking distance of the crash site.
Police have launched an investigation into the accident and members of the accident commission and police representatives should come to the accident on Saturday.
“The weather is very bad in the area to complete the work on the site, but the police will pick it up again as soon as the weather conditions allow it,” said Operations Manager Ivar Bo Nilsson of the Norland Police District to reporters.
Secretary General Yngve Odlo, Chief of Operations of the Norwegian Army, said Cold Response would continue despite the crash.
“At the moment it is fully focused on the end of the rescue operation, the care of the people and then there is a normal procedure with cause,” Odlo told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
The first Cold Response exercise was held in 2006, and the exercises are performed every two years. They occur in southeastern, central and northern Norway.
Add Comment