Three US Marines have died and five are in a critical condition after an aircraft crashed during an Australian-led joint military exercise on the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin. A rescue operation is underway, with emergency services working to transport the remaining personnel onboard the Osprey to hospitals on mainland Australia.
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TVTranscript
00:00 A military exercise ends in tragedy on the Tiwis.
00:06 Our thoughts are with them and their families back in the United States and want to reassure
00:10 them that we'll give them that care.
00:12 23 US Marines were on board an Osprey aircraft when it crashed near Picatarramore on Melville
00:18 Island, sending emergency services into action.
00:21 This is a difficult incident, we're responding fully and our priority is on providing every
00:30 assistance possible.
00:32 Helicopters and aeroplanes have been in full force, transporting patients with the National
00:37 Critical Care and Trauma Response Team triaging on the ground.
00:41 Right now our focus is getting them from a very remote location to hospital at Royal
00:46 Darwin.
00:47 This incident putting the hospital under significant strain, even forcing other patients to relocate
00:53 to free up space.
00:54 We have declared a code brown at Royal Darwin Hospital.
00:57 A code brown is a management tool within the health system to acknowledge an external incident
01:03 will have an impact.
01:04 The Marines were participating in Predators Run, an annual exercise involving 2,500 personnel
01:11 from the US, Australia, Philippines, Timor-Leste and Indonesia.
01:16 But only United States personnel were involved in the crash.
01:20 The Australian Defence Force are cooperating with our friends in the United States Defence
01:26 Force to make sure that we provide every assistance possible.
01:31 Exercise Predators Run will be paused while emergency evacuations continue, and a decision
01:36 on if it will resume will be made at a later date.
01:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]