On Wednesday afternoon, a military aircraft crashed near the Arizona border in Imperial County, killing four individuals, based on a federal source.
According to Cpl. Sarah Marshall, a spokesperson for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which operated the aircraft, an MV-22B Osprey was involved in the incident.
She stated that, contrary to social media allegations and first radio transmissions from the area by emergency personnel, there were no radioactive materials on board.
According to dispatch reports from emergency personnel and Imperial County spokesperson Gil Rebollar, the Osprey crashed somewhere in the Glamis Dunes, at Coachella Canal Road and Highway 78.
Local firefighters, deputies of the sheriff, and other emergency personnel assisted Naval Air Facility El Centro with the disaster.
Although military officials were unable to confirm any fatalities, a federal source who spoke on the condition of anonymity reported that there were five individuals on board and four of them were killed.
The incident occurred at approximately 12:25 p.m., per a statement by 1st Lt. Duane Kampa, a spokesperson for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
Five Marines were aboard the Osprey when it crashed, according to Kampa, who added Wednesday evening that he could not confirm their status.
Kampa said that the aircraft was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton with Marine Aircraft Group 39.
The Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that, by turning its rotors, can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane.
Marines, Navy, and Air Force versions of the aircraft are used to transport personnel and equipment. It has a higher maximum speed and a longer range than a helicopter, although it can hover and land similarly to a helicopter.
However, the aircraft had a problematic and contentious past.
In March, four Marines from North Carolina perished in a second Osprey crash during a NATO drill in Norway.
There have been at least 46 fatalities since the military began testing the unique aircraft, based on public crash statistics. Since 2007 when the Pentagon made the Osprey operational, there have been eight crashes.
After an Osprey crashed in the Arabian Sea in 2014, killing its crew chief, Marine Corps investigators found in a 183-page report that the aircraft was doomed on takeoff because it was launched in maintenance mode by accident.
During development and testing, the aircraft's proponents maintained that the Osprey's tiltrotor capabilities would revolutionize combat, but it became engaged in scandal following a series of deadly crashes during testing.
