An army helicopter left stranded on a New South Wales south coast beach after a training exercise gone wrong has been recovered.
The Taipan MRH-90 ditched into Jervis Bay on Wednesday night while carrying out counter-terrorism exercises with 10 military personnel, including Navy clearance divers and Army Special Forces, on board.
Two passengers were treated for minor injuries while the remaining people on board were taken to the nearby naval base HMAS Creswell uninjured.
The aircraft has been sitting in shallow water at Iluka Beach near the Green Patch campground since it was towed to shore by navy boats.
Earlier on Friday the stranded helicopter was retrieved by the Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Reliant.
The auxiliary ship, purchased by Australia in February 2022, used a crane to winch the aircraft onto its cargo deck.
Greg Campbell, a Jervis Bay Village local who watched the recovery from his home, said the helicopter was floated into the bay.
"The ADV Reliant picked the helicopter up from the water after it had been floated out from the beach at Iluka and loaded on board to be taken away," Mr Campbell said.
"They attached inflatable pontoons to the fuselage on the sides and the front and basically dragged it out off the beach from the shallow water.
"It was taken out to the reliant which was moored basically not far off from Creswell."
The Defence Flight Safety Bureau is carrying out an engineering assessment of the aircraft as part of its investigation into the cause of the crash.
Witnesses described seeing an explosion in the rotor blades of the aircraft before it descended into the water.
Defence has confirmed the entire Taipan fleet has been grounded while investigations into the fault are conducted.
A spokesperson says it cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.
Earlier this week, Army Major General Stephen Jobson said Defence had ensured environmental protections were in place to mitigate any effects on the local environment.
