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Joint Israeli-Romanian aviation exercise takes tragic turn after helicopter crashes in mountainous terrain in northern Romania
Hanan Greenberg
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A military helicopter carrying six Israeli soldiers and one Romanian crashed Monday in mountainous terrain near Brasov, in northern Romania.
Four bodies had been recovered by rescue forces at the crash site by nighttime. The Israelis on board the chopper included four IDF pilots and two airborne mechanics.
According to Bucharest media reports, the Romanian Defense Ministry said the helicopter, a CH-53 Sikorsky, crashed during Blue Sky 2010 – an 11-day joint Romanian-Israeli aviation exercise. The exercise began on July 18 and is set to conclude on July 29.
Earlier, Romanian Defense Ministry Spokesman Constantin Spanu said officials were scrambling to reach the crash site, located near the town of Zarnesti, some 75 miles northwest of Bucharest. The rescue mission included a medevac, as well as Israeli and Romanian ground troops, assisted by local police and medical personnel.
The general area of the exercise (Photo: Google Maps)
IDF sources told Ynet that all six families were notified that their loved ones were missing in action. An Israeli Air Force mission, including medical and rabbinate teams along with IAF officials, headed to Romania to assist in the search and rescue efforts.
Air Force chief orders probe
According to the Air Force, the missing helicopter was flying at low altitude in a two-aircraft formation as part of the exercise. At some point, while flying over the Carpathian Mountains, one of the choppers radioed that it had lost visual and radio contact with its counterpart. Mission control was unable to resume it.
According to some reports, one of the two Sikorsky helicopters who took part in the drill was forced to land at the beginning of the exercise, but it is unknown whether it was the same chopper that later crashed.
IAF Chief Major-General Ido Nehushtan spoke with his Romanian colleague Monday night and the two have agreed on a joint inquiry of the event, which at this point is presumed a crash. Nehushtan later appointed a team headed by a brigadier general to condcut the probe.
The CH-53 Sikorsky has been in use by the Israeli Air Force since the 1960s and is a versatile battlefield, heavy-lift cargo helicopter.
In 1992, the IAF began upgrading its CH-53 Sikorsky fleet, introducing advanced navigation, avionic systems and electronic warfare systems, and changing the choppers' blades to titanium ones.
Attila Somfalvi, AP and AFP contributed to this report
