US aircraft crash off Qld: what we know

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT CRASH OF US AIRCRAFT OFF QUEENSLAND:

* US Navy and Marine Corps have suspended search for three missing marines

* Operations have now shifted to recovery efforts in coordination with the Australian Defence Force, which could last several months

* Next-of-kin for the three missing Marines have been informed

* 26 on board the tilt-rotor aircraft MV-22 Osprey

* Crash occurred at 4pm on Saturday afternoon at Shoalwater Bay, off the central Queensland coast

* The Osprey had taken off from the USS Richard Bonhomme and was on scheduled operations

* 23 personnel have been rescued; one marine is in Rockhampton Hospital with a fractured leg

* No Australian personnel were on board

* The aircraft was in Australia for a joint military training exercise, the biennial Operation Talisman Sabre, held by the US and Australia in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area which ended last month

* Defence Minister Marise Payne has briefed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis

* US President Donald Trump, who has just begun a 17-day vacation, has been briefed by his chief of staff John Kelly.

* This is the 10th known crash involving an Osprey since 1991.