Australian navy locate crashed US military Osprey

Image copyright AFP

Australian navy searchers have located the US military aircraft that crashed off the Queensland coast, leaving three US marines presumed dead.

Defence Minister Marise Payne said a survey ship found the submerged MV-22 Osprey in Shoalwater Bay shortly after starting its search.

Twenty three people were rescued when the aircraft crashed on Saturday, but three remain unaccounted for.

Underwater search efforts would begin later in the day, the statement said.

The aircraft, which is normally based in Okinawa, Japan, ditched into the water during a training exercise on Saturday. It is not clear what caused the incident.

The US military says recovery and salvage work could take months.

US military forces have been operating in the area as part of a joint training exercise called Talisman Sabre.

The MV-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft similar to a conventional plane but has helicopter-like rotor blades which allow it to take off vertically, without a runway.

There have been a number of incidents involving Ospreys in the past, including a crash off the coast of Okinawa in December 2016 that injured five crew members.

The deployment of Ospreys in Japan is unpopular with local residents, and Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera has asked the US to ground its Japan-based fleet until the cause of this crash is known.