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.