Four people have died after a military helicopter crashed during a training exercise – leaving 11 others injured.
The Italian CH-47 Chinook came down near a village on Thursday afternoon (29 Oct).
The aircraft was carrying 15 people when it crashed, killing two army personnel and two members of the Italian Red Cross Military Corps.
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The helicopter was operating as part of the European Union’s EUFOR Althea peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The four victims have been named as army sergeants Simone Ruggia and Claudio Marchesi, and Red Cross Military Corps lieutenant Franco Adriano Zecchillo and sergeant Laura Procacci.
Ruggia and Marchesi were flight technicians with the Italian Army’s First Antares Aviation Regiment, based in Viterbo.
Zecchillo was an experienced emergency response specialist who worked in the medical field, while Procacci, 24, was a nurse.
Procacci made history in March by becoming the first woman to reach the rank of sergeant in the Italian Red Cross Military Corps.
She was reportedly on her first international mission when the helicopter crashed.
The 11 survivors were taken for medical treatment, with two later transferred to a hospital in Tuzla and nine remaining in Brčko.
EUFOR said all the injured were in a stable condition, with none suffering life-threatening injuries.
Italy’s Defence Ministry immediately dispatched a medical team to support those hurt in the crash.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto paid tribute to those who died, saying: “There are no words capable of filling such a great loss.”
He added that his thoughts were with the victims’ families and those injured, as well as everyone affected by the tragedy.
Italian Red Cross president Rosario Valastro also paid tribute to the two colleagues who died.
He said: “The pain of the loss of our two colleagues is indescribable; we are already supporting their families.”
The helicopter came down near the village of Gorice, around 110 miles north of Sarajevo, as reported by Need To Know.
No civilians were injured, and no civilian property or infrastructure was damaged.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, and an investigation is underway to establish what happened.
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