Four Crew Members Aboard U.S. Military Aircraft Die in NATO Drill Crash

All four U.S. military personnel on board a plane taking part in a NATO exercise in the north of Norway have died in a crash, the country's authorities have said.

The group were aboard an MV-22B Osprey, a hybrid aircraft that can land and take off vertically, which was assigned to the II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) U.S. military unit, the Norwegian Armed Forces said.

Norwegian authorities had earlier stated there were "no signs of life" at the crash site of the aircraft which was reported missing on Friday and discovered by a rescue helicopter in the northern municipality of Beiarn.

Ivar Bo Nilsson, police spokesperson for the Norwegian county of Nordland, said in a statement that all four people on board died and were believed to be American, Norwegian news outlet VG reported.

Rescue services reached the crash site around 1.30 a.m. local time Saturday after helicopters had been unable to land due to poor weather conditions, which included gale-force winds and heavy rain.

An investigation into the cause of the crash has been hampered by the weather conditions.

The U.S. Marine Corps has revealed little about the crash, with its latest statement on Friday night simply stating that an "incident has occurred involving a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft" and that it was under investigation.

"The aircraft was conducting training in Norway as part of Exercise COLD RESPONSE 22 at the time of the incident," the statement added.

The aircraft had been heading north in Nordland on its way to Bodø and was scheduled to land just before 6 p.m. local time Friday before it went missing.

The aircraft's last known position was by Saltfjellet, the Norwegian Armed Forces said in a statement.

"It is with great sadness we have received the message that four American soldiers died in a plane crash last night," tweeted Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Saturday morning.

"The soldiers participated in the NATO exercise Cold Response. Our deepest sympathies go to the soldiers' families, relatives and fellow soldiers in their unit," Støre said.

Mayor of Beiarn municipality, Andre Kristoffersen told VG that the area was commonly used for flight training and that the crash was a "tragedy."

Cold Response 2022 sees NATO allies and their partners working together in cold weather conditions, according to the alliance's website and involves around 30,000 troops from 27 countries.

NATO said the exercise had been announced in 2021 and was "not linked to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine."

However, the alliance is facing greater calls by Kyiv to help it tackle Russian aggression.

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Marines for comment.