The United States military has released the names of four US Marines who died when their tilt-rotor aircraft crashed during a training flight in Norway on Friday.
Capt Matthew Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Capt Ross Reynolds of Leominster, Massachusetts; Gunnery Sgt James Speedy of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl Jacob Moore of Catlettsburg, Kentucky, were all killed while on a Nato exercise near the northern town of Bodo.
The US Marine Corps said it was still investigating the cause of the crash but that all four bodies have been removed from the crash site and are on their way home.
Norwegian media reported that there had been an intense storm in the area that night, with winds of up to 40 metres per second and at times visibility of only 1 metre.
"The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves," said the Marines' commanding officer Maj Gen Michael Cederholm.
"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."
The Corps thanked Norway’s air force and civil authorities, as well as the state-owned rescue organisation Hoved Redning Ssentralen, for their help with the search operation.
The four men had been flying aboard a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft through Norway’s mountainous northwestern coastline as part of Exercise Cold Response, a Nato training exercise involving 27 countries designed to test military operations in an arctic environment.
All men were members of Marine Medium Tilt-Rotor Squadron 261, known as the "Raging Bulls", part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.
According to the Corps, Capt Tomkiewicz was 27 years old and had joined in 2015; Capt Reynolds was 27 and joined in 2017; Gunnery Sgt Speedy was 30 and joined in 2009; and Cpl Moore was 24 and joined in 2018.
