In a tragic incident that unfolded during a joint military exercise in Australia, three US Marines lost their lives as a result of a fiery aircraft crash.
The aircraft involved was an MV-22B Osprey, which crashed on a remote island north of Darwin.
The victims have now been identified as Captain Eleanor LeBeau, Corporal Spencer Collart, and Major Tobin Lewis. Alongside these fatalities, the incident also left 20 other individuals, all US marines, injured.
Details surrounding the crash remain under investigation, and authorities are diligently working to ascertain the cause behind this devastating accident. The commanding officer of the Marine Rotational Force Darwin expressed deep sadness and extended condolences to the families of the marines who lost their lives.
Captain LeBeau was piloting the Osprey and had served for five years in the marines, while Corporal Collart had recently enlisted in 2020. Major Lewis, a highly decorated leader with over 15 years of experience, served as the executive officer on board the aircraft.
The aircraft was participating in a training exercise known as Predators Run, which involved troops from the US, Australia, the Philippines, East Timor, and Indonesia.
This incident marks the second fatal air crash during joint military exercises in northern Australia in less than a month.
In 2017, a collision with the back of a transport ship off northern Australia resulted in the deaths of three marines. Similarly, four marines lost their lives in an Osprey crash in Norway during the same year.
-BBC-
