“It is with great sadness that we receive the news of the death of four American soldiers in a plane crash last night,” Jonas Kahr Store said on his official Twitter account.
“The soldiers took part in the cold response operation during the NATO war training. Our deepest condolences to the families, relatives and fellow soldiers of the soldiers in our ranks,” he added.
The MV-22B Osprey aircraft, assigned to the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) Division of the U.S. Army, was “on a training mission in the Norwegian county of northern Norway on Friday” with a crew of four, the Norwegian Armed Forces said.
The plane was spotted from a rescue helicopter and appeared to have crashed in the municipality of Bourne, Norland Police Chief Bent Arne Eilterson told the NRK public broadcaster on Saturday. Alertson said there was “major damage” to the craft.
“What we were told was that this was an American flight with the Americans,” Alertson added.
The U.S. Marine Corps said in a statement that the plane was involved in a NATO drone crash.
“While the nature of military service is inherently dangerous, the safety of our Marines, sailors, allies and allies is our top priority,” the statement said.
If the weather is bad, search crews will have to access the site via land, and rescue workers will have to use snowmobiles to get to the scene, Alertson said.
“It calls for a rescue operation like rain, avalanche risk, wind and darkness,” Eilertsen said.
The Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) said in a statement that the plane went missing at 6:26 pm local time on Friday en route to the city of Bodo, north of the Arctic Circle.
The last known location of the plane was Saltfzellet, a mountainous area in Norland County, the report added.
The Norwegian Defense Commission and the National Criminal Investigation Service will arrive in Bodo on Saturday to begin an investigation at the city’s airport.
Due to bad weather, they will mostly go to the crash site on Sunday, the NRK said.
“Lifelong social media lover. Falls down a lot. Creator. Devoted food aficionado. Explorer. Typical troublemaker.”