Four Americans die as military aircraft crashes in Norway

OSLO (Reuters) -All four people on board a U.S. military aircraft that crashed in northern Norway on Friday have died, local police said on Saturday.

The MV-22B Osprey aircraft belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps was taking part in a military exercise called Cold Response when it crashed in a remote region.

Rescue services reached the crash site by land early on Saturday after helicopters were unable to land due to poor weather conditions.

"Police reached the crash site at around 0130 CET (0030 GMT). It is regrettably confirmed that all four on board the plane have perished," Ivar Bo Nilsson, head of the operation for Nordland police, said in a statement.

The four were all believed to be U.S. nationals, police said.

Police was investigating the cause of the crash though it was not able to do its work at the moment as the weather was bad, it said. The work would resume once the weather improves.

Some 30,000 troops from 27 countries are involved in Cold Response, an exercise designed to prepare NATO member countries for the defence of Norway.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)

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