Four US soldiers have been killed in a plane crash during a regular Nato training exercise in Norway. The incident on Friday night was confirmed by the country's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store. "The soldiers participated in the Nato exercise Cold Response," he tweeted. "Our deepest sympathies go to the soldiers' families, relatives and fellow soldiers in their unit."
The plane was a Bell Boeing V-22B Osprey belonging to the US Marine Corps, Norway's armed forces said. The aircraft had a crew of four and was on a training mission – unrelated to the Ukraine war – in the remote Nordland county. It was on its way north to Bodo, where it was scheduled to land just before 6pm on Friday. It crashed around 50km (30 miles) south of the city in Gratadalen, Beiarn.
Police said a search and rescue mission was launched immediately. At 1.30am on Saturday, police arrived at the scene and confirmed that all four crew members had died. The annual Nato drills in Norway are unrelated to the war in Ukraine. This year they included around 30,000 troops, 220 aircraft and 50 vessels from 27 countries.
Non-Nato members Finland and Sweden are also participating. The exercises began on March 14 and end on April 1. No cause was given for the crash but the Norwegian armed forces said that Cold Response "will carry on as planned, with the measures we have to take due to the weather".
