Italian Military Helicopter Crashes During EU Training Exercise, Killing Four
An Italian CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying 15 people crashed in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday during a European Union peacekeeping mission.
Four people were killed and 11 injured when an Italian military helicopter crashed during a training exercise in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to reports. The CH-47 Chinook, part of a European Union peacekeeping force, was carrying 15 people when it went down in the Brcko District on Thursday.
Dramatic video footage captured the moment the aircraft struggled at a low altitude before crashing in a field near Gorice. The deceased have been identified as Army sergeants and flight technicians Simone Ruggia and Claudio Marchesi, Italian Red Cross Military Corps lieutenant Franco Adriano Zecchillo, an emergency response technician, and sergeant Laura Procacci.
Italian Minister Guido Crosetto was quoted as saying, “There are no words capable of filling such a great loss.”
The injured passengers were reported to be in stable condition, and no civilians were harmed. The European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) has launched a thorough investigation into the incident.
EUFOR is a multinational peacekeeping force of approximately 1,200 soldiers operating under a United Nations Security Council mandate. Its mission is to oversee security and military provisions related to the peace agreement that ended the Bosnian War in 1995.
