A U.S. military aircraft that was said to have four service members aboard crashed during a NATO exercise in Norway, officials said Friday.
The Marine MV-22 Osprey went missing during an extreme weather exercise called Cold Response but has since been located. It was not clear what condition it was in, a U.S. military official said.
Weather prevented a helicopter from landing at the crash site, and the condition of those aboard was not clear, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre North Norway said.
“We’ve discovered an aircraft that has crashed. We’ve seen no sign of life,” Nordland police chief of staff Bent Eilertsen told Reuters.
Emergency services were working to send a rescue team, the coordination center said.
The Osprey, which is a tilt-rotor aircraft, was taking part in a cold weather exercise and there was bad weather at the time of the incident, the U.S. official said.
The II Marine Expeditionary Force said in a statement it was aware of the incident, which is being assessed.
“Norwegian civil authorities are leading the search and rescue efforts at this time,” it said. “We are grateful for their efforts and will assist them … in all manners possible.”
The plane was on a training exercise and had been due to land at around 1800 CET (1700 GMT). Weather was bad in the area, with conditions worsening.