U.S. military searches for three Marines in sea after aircraft crashes off Australia

Video courtesy Wochit News



SYDNEY - Rescue teams were searching for three U.S. Marines missing after their aircraft crashed  into the sea off Australia's east coast on Saturday, the U.S. Marine Corps said.

Twenty three other personnel aboard the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft had been rescued, the III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan, said in a statement.
Ospreys have been involved in a series of incidents in past years.
The aircraft had launched from the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), an amphibious assault ship, and was on regular operations when it hit the water, the statement said. Boats and aircraft on the ship immediately launched a search and rescue effort.

The U.S. Marine Corps said the incident was under investigation but gave no additional information.
© AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee File photo of a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey on April 22, 2015 in Miami International Airport.
The incident took place off the coast of Shoalwater Bay, in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland, the Australian
defense ministry said. One person had been taken to Rockhampton hospital, a Queensland Ambulance spokesman said. He gave no further details.
The Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group was in Australia to participate in joint training maneuvers involving more than 33,000 U.S. and Australian military personnel, which ended two weeks ago.

The exercises included the participation of MV-22 Ospreys practicing the deployment of U.S. Marine reconnaissance teams.
The Osprey, built by Boeing Co and Textron Inc's Bell Helicopter and designed to take off like a helicopter and rotate its propellers to fly like a plane, has suffered a series of incidents in other parts of the world.
Its development was nearly canceled after the deaths of 23 Marines during flight testing in 2000, but its speed and range have made it very popular in recent years.
In December, the U.S. military grounded its Osprey fleet in Japan, after one of the aircraft ditched into the sea, injuring its crew of five when a hose connected to the aircraft broke during a refueling exercise.

Australia has sent troops to fight in the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
(Reporting by Colin Packham and Tom Westbrook in SYDNEY and Jamie Freed in SINGAPORE, Editing by Angus MacSwan)