EU force helicopter crashes in Bosnia, killing four Italians
An Italian CH-47 Chinook serving with the EU's EUFOR Althea mission crashed near Brcko during a training flight. The dead include two soldiers and two Red Cross volunteers; 11 people were injured.
Photo: Italian Army / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5 (cropped and resized)
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An Italian military CH-47 Chinook helicopter serving with the European Union's EUFOR Althea mission crashed on Thursday afternoon near the village of Gorice in the Brcko region, about 180 kilometers north of Sarajevo. According to the hospital in Brcko, 15 people were on board. Three died at the crash site and a fourth later in hospital. EUFOR reported 11 injured, who the mission said are in stable condition.
Italy's Defense Ministry said all those on board were Italian nationals and that the dead were two soldiers and two Red Cross volunteers. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto offered his condolences, saying that in this time of "profound grief" his first thoughts were with the families of the fallen. Hospital spokesman Salih Ibrahimbegovic said: "We are in the process of saving lives, that is what matters most." Three of the injured were to be transferred to a hospital in Tuzla.
EUFOR described the flight as a routine training mission and announced "a full and thorough investigation." The cause of the crash is not yet known. The mission said no civilians were hurt and no civilian property was damaged. EUFOR Althea has been deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2004 and oversees implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. In 2008, four members of the mission were killed in a helicopter crash in the country.