Four air crew members were missing after an Australian army helicopter ditched into waters off the Queensland state coast during joint military exercises with the US, officials said Saturday. The MRH-90 Taipan helicopter went down near Lindeman Island, a Great Barrier Reef tourist resort, around about 11pm Friday, exercise director Australian Army Brigadier Damian Hill said. A search involving US, Canadian and Australian personnel was underway to find the crew, who are all Australian men, the AP reports. Debris that appeared to be from a helicopter had been recovered, Queensland police said.
The Taipan was taking part in Talisman Sabre, a biennial US-Australian military exercise that is largely based in Queensland. This year's exercise involves 13 nations and more than 30,000 military personnel. Defense Minister Richard Marles said the helicopter ditched, which refers to an emergency landing on water. "Defense exercises, which are so necessary for the readiness of our defense force, are serious. They carry risk," Marles told reporters in Brisbane. Hill said the exercise was postponed on Saturday morning but had restarted limited activity later in the day. Australia had grounded its Taipan fleet as a precaution, Hill said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Brisbane for a meeting on Saturday and is due to travel with Marles to north Queensland on Sunday to see the exercise, per the AP. Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid tribute to the missing air crew at the outset of a meeting with their Australian counterparts, Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong. "It's always tough when you have accidents in training, but … the reason that we train to such high standards is so that we can be successful and we can protect lives when we are called to answer any kind of crisis," Austin said.
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