A military MV-22B Osprey carrying four Marines burst into flames and hard-landed in Bladen County on Thursday morning, turning a training exercise into an emergency in the Bladen Lakes State Forest area. Civilian and military responders rushed to the site as fire crews worked to put out the blaze.
Jim McVicker told WECT the aircraft went down in Bladen Lakes State Forest, and the Marine Corps later said all four Marines received medical care after the aviation mishap. Dale Brennan said one Marine suffered burns and was rushed to a nearby clinic for treatment, while multiple fire crews were still trying to knock down the fire at the scene.
The aircraft belonged to a Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron based out of Air Station New River, and Camp Lejeune said training exercises were planned that week. Camp Lejeune also had warned on Oct. 8 that personnel and visitors might see increased exercise and emergency-response activity in the French Creek area and urged people to avoid it if possible between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
What makes the incident harder to square is the fuel load. Brennan said the Osprey was carrying 6,000 pounds of jet fuel, yet only one Marine was described as suffering burns while the Marine Corps said all four were taken for medical care. That leaves the condition of the other three Marines unspoken, even as the aircraft fire and hard landing are now under investigation.
The immediate answer is that the crash response is over only in the sense that the scene was reached fast and the fire was attacked quickly. The larger question is why the Osprey ignited and came down so hard in the first place, and that is the part the investigation still has to explain.
