Maine Man Killed In Navy Airplane Crash

A Maine man was among the three Navy personnel killed when an aircraft went down off the coast of Australia.

The Portland Press Herald reports First Lieutenant Benjamin Robert Cross had been training in Australia for the past three months when the Osprey aircraft he was in crashed into the sea. The 26-year-old, whose family is from Bethel, Maine, was based out of Okinawa, Japan. 23 of the 26 people on board the aircraft were rescued by small boats.

Cross's family was notified Sunday that their son's status had changed from missing to deceased. They have expressed their condolences to the families of the other two men who were killed in the crash.