Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere posted that the victims died in Friday's crash. Although the cause of the crash is still under investigation, Norwegian police said that bad weather was reported in the region.
"It is with great sorrow that we have received the message that four American Soldiers died in a crash plane last night," the Norwegian prime Minister tweeted. Our deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of the soldiers, as well as their fellow soldiers.
Cold Response was a NATO exercise in which the Marines were part of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing II Marine Expeditionary Force. According to the U.S. Defense Department policy, relatives are not notified immediately, their identities won't be provided immediately.
It was an MV-22B Osprey. According to the statement from the country's armed force, it had a crew of four and was on a training mission at Nordland County in northern Norway.
It was heading north towards Bodoe. The Osprey was due to arrive there just before 6 p.m. on Friday. The Osprey crashed south of Bodoe in Graetaedalen, Beiarn. Police stated that a rescue and search mission was immediately launched. The police arrived on the scene at 1:30 am Saturday to confirm that four members of the crew had died.
The NATO annual drills in Norway have nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. They include approximately 30,000 troops, 220 planes and 50 vessels from 27 nations. The exercises started on March 14th and ended on April 1.
In recent years, V-22 Ospreys were involved in numerous fatal crashes. Three Marines died in a MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crash off Australia's coast in 2017.
, a V-22 Marine tilt-rotor Osprey crashed in April 2000 during a night landing at Arizona. A second V-22 camera captured the horrific fireball. Nineteen people on board were killed.
