ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. military officials say it's too soon to tell what caused a Marine aircraft to crash in the Arizona desert this weekend. Nineteen people died after their Osprey nose- dived into the ground at an airport north of Tucson while on a training mission. CNN's Don Knapp joins us now with more on this tragedy -- Don.</s>DON KNAPP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The bodies of the 19 Marines remain in the wreckage in the debris in the field behind me where they died at about 8:00 Pacific time last night when their plane, as you said, nose-dived in -- this is a municipal airport -- a civil airport. It is called the Marana Northwest Regional Airport. We are about 25 miles northwest of Tucson, Arizona. Fourteen of the Marine passengers were from Camp Pendleton, California, one from Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego. And the four crew members flying the MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft were from the presidential helicopter squad based in Quantico, Virginia. They fly the president's Marine 1, the squad does. The president has called the commander of that helicopter squad to phone in his condolences, as well as the commanding officer of the Third Battalion Fifth Marines at Camp Pendleton, as well as the commandant of Marines. The crash occurred in an exercise the Marines call an noncombatant emergency evacuation-type exercise, as explained by Marine Lieutenant Mark Carter.</s>ST LT. MARK CARTER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: The aircraft here were participating in a troop lift, or troop transport, and essentially in a real-life situation it would be similar to evacuating U.S. citizens and embassy personnel from embassies in a country that has a higher threat.</s>KNAPP: We have begun to see some activity out there on the field, but not a lot. We expect that more of the activity will occur a little bit later this evening when the pathology experts come here to remove the bodies from the aircraft and the investigation can get underway in earnest. Reporting live, Don Knapp, CNN, Marana, Arizona. Search CNN.com CNNSI.com CNNmoney.com The Web
U.S. Military Officials Prepare to Investigate Aircraft Crash That Killed 19 Marines