<p>Three US Marines died during military exercises in northern Australia on Sunday, the US military said, in a helicopter crash that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called "tragic".</p><p>Five others were "transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in serious condition", Marine Rotation Force - Darwin said in a press release.</p><p>It said they were among 23 Marines on the tilt-rotor MV-22B Osprey aircraft during routine training exercises and that the cause of the crash was being investigated.</p><p>The crash occurred on the remote Tiwi Islands after 9 am (0100 GMT), said Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.</p><p>Australian personnel were not involved in the crash that occurred during Exercise Predators Run 2023, Albanese said.</p><p>"Our focus as a government and as a department of defence is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time," the prime minister told a previously scheduled press conference in Western Australia.</p><p>About 2,500 personnel from Australia, the US, the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor were taking part in the exercises, <em>Sky News</em> reported.</p><p>The US and Australia, a key ally in the Pacific, have been stepping up military cooperation in recent years in the face of an increasingly assertive China.</p><p>Four Australian soldiers were killed last month during large bilateral exercises when their helicopter crashed into the ocean off the coast of Queensland.</p>
<p>Three US Marines died during military exercises in northern Australia on Sunday, the US military said, in a helicopter crash that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called "tragic".</p><p>Five others were "transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in serious condition", Marine Rotation Force - Darwin said in a press release.</p><p>It said they were among 23 Marines on the tilt-rotor MV-22B Osprey aircraft during routine training exercises and that the cause of the crash was being investigated.</p><p>The crash occurred on the remote Tiwi Islands after 9 am (0100 GMT), said Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.</p><p>Australian personnel were not involved in the crash that occurred during Exercise Predators Run 2023, Albanese said.</p><p>"Our focus as a government and as a department of defence is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time," the prime minister told a previously scheduled press conference in Western Australia.</p><p>About 2,500 personnel from Australia, the US, the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor were taking part in the exercises, <em>Sky News</em> reported.</p><p>The US and Australia, a key ally in the Pacific, have been stepping up military cooperation in recent years in the face of an increasingly assertive China.</p><p>Four Australian soldiers were killed last month during large bilateral exercises when their helicopter crashed into the ocean off the coast of Queensland.</p>