The Osprey aircraft’s twin rotors, on display last week in New York, stirred up wind yesterday that downed branches and swirled debris at a States Island demonstration, injuring 10.
(Don Emmert/ AFP/ Getty Images)
Marine aircraft mishap injures several in N.Y.
The Osprey aircraft’s twin rotors, on display last week in New York, stirred up wind yesterday that downed branches and swirled debris at a States Island demonstration, injuring 10.
(Don Emmert/ AFP/ Getty Images)
NEW YORK — A Marine Corps aircraft’s powerful propellers whipped up a wind that sent branches hurtling off a tree into a crowd of about 150 people watching a Memorial Day demonstration in a park, leaving 10 people with minor injuries, officials and a witness said.
As the Osprey MV-22 aircraft landed at Staten Island’s Clove Lakes Park at around 9 a.m. yesterday, the wind generated by its twin rotors stirred tree limbs, dirt from a nearby baseball field, and other debris into a swirl that sent spectators scattering, witness Ann Hirsch said.
“It was like a storm of sand and garbage and people running,’’ said Hirsch, 66, of Staten Island. “Branches just came down. They were all over the park. . . . It was really scary.’’
One tree lost all its branches on one side.
Seven people were taken to a hospital for observation; five were released within about two hours, Navy officials said. Three other injured people refused medical attention.
The MV-22 is a Marine Corps version of the V-22, which combines like wings with rotors that let it take off and land vertically. It “stirs up a lot of wind, and that’s apparently what did it,’’ said a Marine Corps spokesman, Lieutenant Josh Diddams.
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Yesterday’s demonstration was part of an annual military showcase in New York.
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