Italy: Black Hawk Crash Kills 5

by mpress | November 8, 2007 at 06:21 am

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ROME (AP) - A U.S. military helicopter crashed in northern Italy on Thursday and five people on board were believed to have been killed, two Italian news agencies reported.

A spokesman at the U.S. Air Force base in Aviano, near Venice, said the base was looking into the report, but had no confirmation on the number of deaths. The ANSA news agency said the helicopter may have been a Black Hawk, and that it was carrying about 10 people when it crashed in the countryside outside of Treviso.

Without citing sources, ANSA and the Apcom news agency said five people on board were believed to have been killed and another five injured.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

[q
url="http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/08/italy.crash/index.html?section=cnn_latest"]ROME,
Italy (CNN) -- A U.S. Black Hawk military helicopter with 10 people on
board crashed Thursday in northeastern Italy. Police in Treviso said
five people died, but local fire officials said four were killed.

The fire department said two of the injured were still
trapped in the helicopter and the rest had been taken to hospitals, two
in serious condition. The fire officials said no one on the ground was
hurt.

It was unclear whether those killed were soldiers, crew members or passengers.

The U.S. military in Europe confirmed the helicopter was an Army H-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

Police and fire officials said it crashed in an open area near the
Piave River north of Treviso, between the towns of Maserata Sul Piave
and Santa Lucia Di Piave.

Italy's ANSA news agency said the helicopter crashed near the bridge
of a major highway and that the road was closed as a precaution.

The helicopter had taken off from the nearby Aviano Air Base, but
fire authorities could not confirm whether the helicopter was leaving
or returning to the base, according to ANSA.[/q]