A US military plane, identified as a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey Tilt-Rotor Military Aircraft, with four people on board crashed in Nordland, northern Norway late Friday. According to police, all four people on board the aircraft died in the crash.
"The search operation is underway after the US military plane disappeared south of Bodo. The plane was heading for the north, its latest location was registered in Saltfjellet. The plane with four people on board was carrying out a training mission and had to land at about 6 p.m. [17:00 GMT]. A rescue helicopter has left Bodo along with the Orion patrol aircraft," the Norwegian rescue center said in a statement.
Helicopters and planes were sent on a search after a hazard warning signal was detected. The beacon was found at 21:17 on the ground in Grotadalen, a valley in Nordland’s Beiarn Municipality.
Norwegian authorities said that rescuers failed to reach the suspected site because of the bad weather conditions, which they said are expected to worsen.
The US is aware of its aicraft having a mishap in Norway and is currently assessing the incident, a US Marine Corps spokesperson said in a statement to Sputnik.
A picture of a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey during Cold Response
© Photo : Twitter/ @GrumpyLars
The Cold Response 2022 drills, featuring 30,000 soldiers from 27 nations, was presented as a defensive exercise and commenced in full on March 14 in Norway.