A US military plane with about 20 people on board crashed Sunday during takeoff maneuvers in the Tivi Islands, an archipelago north of Australia.
The Australian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Osprey aircraft had US military personnel on board and that no Australian soldiers have been involved in the crash so far.
The Care Flight rescue service told AFP that three passengers were taken to Darwin Hospital, one of them in critical condition and the other two stable.
“In this first critical phase, our focus is on responding to the incident and ensuring the safety of those involved,” the defense authorities said in a statement.
According to the Australian state television ABC, several people are to be rescued after the accident, which occurred during an exercise near the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin.
A Northern Territory emergency services accident map showed that an “airplane crash” had occurred on Melville Island, about 60 kilometers north of mainland Australia in the East Timor Sea.
Northern Australia has become an increasingly important theater for the US military in recent years as the two allies seek to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to the US Air Force, Ospreys are tiltrotor aircraft that combine the characteristics of helicopters and turboprop aircraft.
The aircraft has two rotary engines in the fixed tips of the wings, which allow it to land and take off vertically, but also fly much faster than a conventional helicopter.
The Osprey aircraft’s safety record has been repeatedly called into question following a series of fatal incidents.
In April 2000, 19 Marines were killed when an Osprey crashed during an exercise in Arizona.
And three Marines were killed in 2017 when one such plane crashed after slamming into the stern of a transport ship while attempting to land in the sea off Australia’s north coast.
In July, four Australians died when their Taipan helicopter crashed into the sea near Queensland during another series of multinational maneuvers.
The Taipan participated in the major exercise Talisman Saber, which drew 30,000 military personnel from Australia, the United States and several other countries.
Crashed during a night operation near the Whitsunday Islands
