Military aircraft in crash with 26 Marines onboard recovered in waters near Australia
SYDNEY (KUSI) — A United States military aircraft that crashed off the coast of Australia with 26 Marines on board was located Monday.
The Australian Navy found the missing MV-22 Osprey after it went down in the ocean while trying to land. The aircraft was found submerged in Shoalwater Bay, according to a statement from Australian Senator Marise Payne.
The majority of Marines were rescued but three were missing and are presumed dead, officials with U.S. Marine base Camp Butler in Japan said in a statement. Rescue efforts were called off Sunday and U.S. officials were now calling the search a recovery effort.
The three missing Marines have been identified by family members as 1st Lt. Benjamin Robert Cross from Maine, Corporal Nathaniel Ordway from Kansas and Pfc. Ruben Velasco from Los Angeles. The third has not yet been publicly identified. It was not clear if the Marines were recovered in the wreckage of the found aircraft.
The Osprey was in Australia for a joint military training exercise between the two countries.
