ELIZABETHTOWN, N.C. — A routine military training exercise transformed into an emergency response operation after an MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft suffered a hard landing and burst into flames within the dense woodlands of Bladen Lakes State Forest.
The catastrophic aircraft fire, which triggered an immediate multi-agency mobilisation across southeastern North Carolina, involved four active-duty Marines assigned to the Camp Lejeune installation.
While three crew members escaped the burning wreckage without critical injuries, one service member sustained severe burns and required emergency transport to a specialised regional medical centre as federal and local investigators sealed off the wooded perimeter.
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The high-stakes incident unfolded during morning hours when local emergency dispatchers began receiving reports of heavy black smoke billowing from remote state forest acreage near Sweet Home Church Road.
Bladen County Sheriff’s Office personnel, alongside regional firefighting units, rushed to the rugged terrain to contain the rapidly spreading blaze. Military liaisons quickly confirmed that the aircraft belonged to the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, dispelling initial local confusion suggesting affiliation with nearby Marine Corps Air Station New River.
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