CANBERRA: Eight US Marines remained in hospital in the Australian north coast city of Darwin on Monday after being injured in the fiery crash of a tilt-rotor plane that killed three of their colleagues on the island.
All 20 survivors were airlifted from Melville Island, 80 kilometers south to Darwin, within hours of the Marine V-22 Osprey crashing during a multinational training exercise at 9.30am on Sunday, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said.
All were taken to Royal Darwin Hospital and 12 had been released by Monday, she said.
The first five Marines to arrive at the city’s main hospital were seriously injured and one underwent emergency surgery.
Fyles said she would not detail the conditions of the eight who remained in the hospital out of respect for them and their families.
“It’s a credit to everyone involved that we were able to get 20 patients from an extremely remote location on the island to our tertiary hospital within hours,” Fyles told reporters.
The Osprey that crashed was one of two flying from Darwin to Melville on Sunday as part of the Predators Run exercise, which involves the militaries of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.
All 23 Marines on board the lost aircraft were temporarily stationed in Darwin as part of the Marine Corps’ annual troop rotation.
Around 150 Marines are currently based in Darwin and up to 2,500 pass through the city each year. They are part of a realignment of US forces in the Asia-Pacific, generally to counter an increasingly assertive China.
The bodies of the dead Marines remain at the crash site, where a cordon will be maintained, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, and investigators will remain at the scene for at least 10 days, Murphy said.
The Osprey, a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can tilt its propellers forward during flight and fly much faster than a plane, has crashed into a rainforest and burst into flames.
The rescuers were surprised that the number of victims was not higher.
“For a helicopter that crashes and catches fire to have 20 Marines survive, I think that’s an incredible outcome,” Murphy said.
“Our thoughts are with the three Marines who died in service to their country, and our thoughts go out to their country, to the United States Marine Corps, and to all their colleagues and friends,” he added.
Defence Secretary Richard Marles was also grateful the toll was no worse.
“It’s remarkable in many ways that so many have survived,” Marles told Nine News.
“This remains a very tragic event and the loss of these lives is very palpable,” Marles added.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin paid tribute to the dead Marines.
“These Marines served our country with courage and pride and my thoughts and prayers are with their families today, the other soldiers who were injured in the accident, and the entire USMC family,” Austin tweeted.
The US Embassy in Australia issued a statement expressing condolences to the families and friends of the dead Marines and thanking Australian responders for their assistance.
