The sunken wreckage of an American military aircraft has been located two days after it crashed off the east coast of Australia and left three US Marines presumed dead, Australia’s defense minister said.

The MV-22 Osprey — a hybrid helicopter-turboprop with a history of deadly incidents — went down Saturday off Shoalwater Bay in Queensland state.

Defense Minister Marise Payne confirmed that the Australian navy ship HMAS Melville found the aircraft overnight Sunday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

“The Australian Defence Force has commenced its support to US-led recovery operations following the MV-22 Osprey incident in Shoalwater Bay on Saturday,” according to a statement by Payne.

“HMAS Melville arrived to Shoalwater Bay overnight. Shortly after commencing survey operations in the area, the submerged aircraft was located,” the statement said.

There was no immediate word on the condition of the wreckage or whether human remains were located.

Osprey crew chief Cpl. Nathan Ordway and 1st Lt. Benjamin Robert Cross have been identified as two of the three Marines presumed dead.

Ordway’s sister Taylor asked people to pray for her brother and the two other Marines in a post on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Facebook page.

Maine native Cross’ parents, Robert and Valerie Cross, were told early Sunday that their son’s status had been changed from missing to deceased.

The 26-year-old had been stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa for the past year, his family told the Portland Press Herald.

Ryan Cross said his brother loved to fly and “was proud of being a Marine and of the aircraft he flew.”

“He was so smart and just a great guy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Japan’s new defense minister told the US military Monday of his “many concerns” about flights of the tilt-rotor aircraft in his country.

Itsunori Onodera asked the US to temporarily stop flying the Ospreys in Japan following the accident.

“We have still many concerns,” Onodera said during a meeting with Maj. Gen. Charles Chiarotti, deputy commander of US forces in Japan, Agence France-Presse reported.

The ill-fated flight took place on the southern island of Okinawa, where a squadron of Ospreys is stationed at the US Marines’ Futenma base, according to Japanese media.

The Osprey launched from the USS Bonhomme Richard and was conducting regularly scheduled operations when it crashed Saturday, according to a Marines statement.

Twenty-three of 26 personnel aboard were rescued.

The aircraft was in Australia for the Talisman Sabre joint military exercise held by the US and Australia in Shoalwater Bay.

The biennial event between the two nations involved more than 30,000 troops and 200 aircraft.

The accident is the 10th known crash involving the Osprey — an aircraft that takes off and lands like a chopper but flies like an airplane — since 1991.

In April 2000, 19 Marines were killed in an Osprey crash in Arizona.

With Post wires