Australia’s defense minister says there is no hope of finding survivors of a military helicopter crash.
Richard Marles told reporters Monday that a significant amount of debris had been recovered, pointing to a “catastrophic event.”
The accident took place on Friday night during a multinational military exercise near Lindeman Island.
Australian authorities have launched a full investigation.
Australia’s army chief has grounded a fleet of military helicopters after a crash that left four crew members missing and feared dead.
Lieutenant General Simon Stewart said none of the military’s 45 MRH-90 Taipan helicopters – the craft involved in the crash – would be flown again until they were found safe.
Australia had previously grounded its Taipan for safety reasons.
“We are not flying the MRH-90 today and until we think it is safe to do so,” General Stewart told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
Friday’s accident happened at about 22:30 local time (12:30 GMT) on Whit Sunday, a group of islands off the coast of Queensland.
The military has identified the missing soldiers aboard the plane as Capt. Daniel Levin, Lt. Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Cpl. Alexander Nages.
All of them belonged to the Sixth Aviation Regiment based in Sydney.
The helicopter went down during exercises as part of Exercise Talisman Sabri, a major training exercise that brings together 30,000 military personnel from Australia, the United States and several other countries.
Canberra had announced before the crash that it would replace its aging European-made Taipan helicopters with American-made Blackhawks.
Officials had complained of frequent grounding of the fleet for maintenance and safety issues.
As recently as March, the fleet was pulled from the sky after one of the helicopters suffered engine failure during a training exercise, forcing the crew to ditch in the sea off the coast of New South Wales.
No casualties were reported in the March training exercise. The other MRH-90s were returned to operations on 6 April with “risk mitigation”.
General Stewart said the current goal was to have the Taipan in service by 2024 but “what happens between now and then, what we learn from this incident, remains to be determined.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albany described the recent crash as a stark reminder that “there are no safe or easy days for those who serve in the name of our country”.
US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin, speaking in the northern city of Townsville, said that the US will provide all assistance.
