RABAT, Morocco – Two U.S. Marines were killed and two severely injured in the crash of a hybrid aircraft, known as an MV-22 Osprey, in Morocco on Wednesday, officials said.

The Osprey crashed in a military training area southwest of Agadir, Morocco, after taking off from aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, said Capt. Kevin Schultz, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon in Washington.

Schultz said the Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane, was participating in a U.S.-Moroccan military exercise called "African Lion."