Four U.S. Soldiers Died in Norway – Norwegian News – Latest News, Latest News, Comments – Norwegian News

The Norwegian Prime Minister said four US soldiers were killed in a plane crash in a Norwegian town in the Arctic during a NATO exercise unrelated to the Ukrainian War.

Jonas Gahr Stoere tweeted that they were killed in a Friday night crash. The cause is under investigation, but Norwegian police have reported bad weather in the area.

“Soldiers participated in NATO’s Cold Response exercise,” Gahr Stoere said. “Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the soldiers’ families, relatives, and fellow soldiers in their unit.”

According to the Norwegian army, the plane was a V-22B Osprey belonging to the US Marine Corps.

According to the statement, “the aircraft had four crew members on a training mission in Nordland County, northern Norway.”

I was heading north towards Bode, which was scheduled to land just before 6pm on Friday. The plane crashed in Graetaedalen, Bayan, south of Bode. Police said the search and rescue mission had begun immediately. At 1:30 am on Saturday, police arrived at the scene and confirmed that four crew members had died.

“We can confirm that an incident related to the Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft has occurred,” the US Marine Corps said in a tweet. “The cause of the incident is under investigation and additional details will be provided if available.”

The annual NATO training in Norway has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. This year, it will include approximately 30,000 troops, 220 aircraft and 50 vessels from 27 countries. Non-NATO member countries Finland and Sweden are also participating.

The exercise begins on March 14th and ends on April 1st.

The cause of the crash was not identified, but Norwegian troops said Cold Response “will take action that must be taken due to the weather and continue as planned.”

Police began investigating the crash, and members of the accident committee and police representatives were scheduled to arrive at the crash site on Saturday.

“Weather in this area is very bad to complete on-site work, but police will resume as soon as weather conditions permit,” Ival Bo Nilson, Operations Manager for the Norland Police District, told reporters. “.

Lieutenant General Yngve Odlo, head of operations at the Norwegian Army, said cold response would continue despite the crash.

“Currently, the full focus is on ending rescue operations and caring for people, followed by normal causal procedures,” Odro said by the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. I was told.

The first cold response exercise was held in 2006, and a total of eight training sessions have been conducted so far. They take place in southeastern, central and northern Norway.

Source: Associated Press
-agency