Four Italians killed in peacekeeping helicopter crash in Bosnia

An Italian CH-47 Chinook went down near Brčko during routine training, killing two soldiers and two Red Cross volunteers. Eleven others were injured and taken to hospital, where they are in stable condition.
A CH-47 Chinook military helicopter in flight
Photo by Daniel Klein on Unsplash
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An Italian CH-47 Chinook helicopter was conducting routine training in the Brčko region on Thursday afternoon when it crashed near Gorice, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) northeast of Sarajevo. Fifteen Italian crew members were aboard.

Three crew members died in the crash. A fourth later died in hospital from injuries sustained in it.

Eleven crew members were injured and 12 people were taken to Brčko hospital. The injured are receiving treatment and are in stable condition, EUFOR said.

The four dead were two soldiers and two Red Cross volunteers, EUFOR said. All those aboard the military helicopter were Italian nationals. EUFOR also said no civilians were injured and that the crash caused no damage to civilian infrastructure, property or vehicles.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said: 'At this moment of immense grief, my thoughts go first and foremost to the families of our fallen, to whom I extend my personal condolences and those of the entire defence establishment'.

Bosnia's Defence Ministry said it could not make further statements while it awaited more precise information on the health of the personnel.

EUFOR, the European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has roughly 1,200 personnel. It has operated in Bosnia since 2004, when it took over from NATO, replacing a NATO peacekeeping force that had been in the country since the Bosnian War ended in 1995.

The force works under a UN Security Council mandate to help maintain security and oversee the military provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The agreement ended the three-year war of 1992–95.

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Sofia CastellanosWorld

Sofia Castellanos reads today’s events through the long arc of history, drawing the parallels others miss. Ambitious in scope, provocative on purpose, and rarely content with the obvious explanation.

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