According to the marine corps, four marines from marine corps air station new river in north California were killed after an MV/ 22 Osprey crashed in northern Norway owing to bad weather conditions.
They were in Norway as part of a big NATO’s cold response, which takes place twice a year.
The bodies of those killed were collected and taken to the United States with the help of the marine corps, according to a statement made by the II Marine Expeditionary Force on Sunday.
When they did not arrive on time, first they were reported missing Friday around 6.30 pm, central European time.
Norway was experiencing heavy rain and storm at the time when the incident happened, as per the weather reports.
Yesterday afternoon I was notified that an American aircraft was missing and had not arrived in Bodø according to the original plan,” Norwegian Gen. Eirik Kristoffersen, the nation’s chief of defense, said in a statement. “I feared the worst but hoped for a long time for better news.”
The weather conditions were worsening time after time. After searching for long, Norwegian search and rescue crews managed to recognize the crash site from the air but due to bad weather, it was difficult for them to land down and this they had to dispatch a ground rescue crew to the spot.
Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts, Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio, and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky, were the four marines killed in the incident.
Mathew Tomkiewicz joined the Marine Corps in 2015 and was one of the downed Osprey’s pilots. He received the National Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and a ribbon for sea service deployment.
Reynolds was the other newcomer to the Air Force in 2017.
The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves,” Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, in a letter to his Marines and their families, according to the II MEF statement. “We will continue to execute the mission while keeping these Marines and their service on the forefront of our minds. We will never allow these Marines’ sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated.”
Yet the cause behind the crash is still under investigation.
As earlier from 1991-2006, while the aircraft was undergoing testing because it had a controversial argument that it was unsafe, there were four crashes which resulted in 30 deaths.
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