The Osprey disappeared from radar at the end of the day on Friday, when the weather was particularly difficult. On a training mission as part of the NATO exercise cold-response, which involves 200 planes and about 50 ships to test Norway’s ability to receive military reinforcements, the American plane finally crashed. The four soldiers on board, all Americans, died, announced a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Defense, Stine Barclay Gaasland.
“It is with great sadness that we received the message that four American soldiers died in a plane crash last night,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre wrote on Twitter. “The soldiers were taking part in the NATO exercise ‘Cold Response'”.
“At 1:30 a.m. (0:30 a.m. GMT, editor’s note) during the night, the police arrived at the accident area,” the Norwegian Defense wrote in a press release. The Cold Response exercise will continue as planned until April 1 with additional measures due to the weather, the Norwegian Defense said.