By PAUL SCHEMM
Associated Press
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Two U.S. Marines were killed and two severely injured in the crash of a hybrid aircraft in Morocco on Wednesday, officials said.
The Marines were taking part in joint U.S.-Moroccan military excercises located in the south of the country based in Agadir, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford in Rabat, who gave the toll.
Capt. Kevin Schultz, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon in Washington, confirmed that the aircraft involved was an MV-22 Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. The aircraft was participating in a U.S.-Moroccan military exercise known as “African Lion.”
The Osprey was flying from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is in the early stages of investigation.
