The six passengers and the pilot of the helicopter that crashed in central Italy are dead, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.
The helicopter went down in the mountainous region of the Apennines, which lies on the border of the Tuscany and Emilia Romagna regions.
Apart from the pilot, four Turkish managers and two Lebanese were on board. According to the Italian media, the Italian pilot reportedly crashed into a slope near the Lama torrent, at an altitude of 1,922 metres.
The Italian Economic Police, the Italian Air Force and the Alpine First Aid Department rushed to the scene.
The helicopter crashed in a rough spot
As reported by Ansa, the helicopter crashed in the bed of a stream, the Lama, in the Scaloni Pass, at an altitude of 1,922 meters, two kilometers from the Segheria shelter. The area is particularly rugged. At the scene of the collision the Air Force, Alpine Rescue, the Economic Police, the Carabinieri of Castelnovo Monti.
A total of seven people were on board the helicopter. The pilot, from Veneto, Corrado Levorin, and six passengers, four Turks and two Lebanese: Kenar Serhat, Cez Arif, Ilker Ucak, Erbilaltug Bulent, Chadi Kreidy and Tarek El Tayak.
According to reports, a hiker who was in the area reported the possible remains of the helicopter to the rescuers.
Video of the last seconds of the flight
There is a few-second video sent via chat by one of the six passengers to his son, which captures the helicopter's flight in the midst of a violent storm.
This was reported by Gazzetta di Modena, specifying that for the moment the recipient of the tape - the son of one of the two Lebanese directors of the aircraft - has not made it public, in view of the ongoing investigation.
According to the local newspaper, the 20-second video, which was sent to his son in Lebanon, presumably before the helicopter blackout, shows the flight during a thunderstorm. A detail that, like other traces, is being examined by the forces involved in the investigation. On Thursday, at the time of the alleged crash of the helicopter, the weather conditions in this area of the Apennines between Tuscany and Emilia were unfavourable: the ridge was hit by a storm with rain, lightning and hail.
Employees of Turkish company - Participated in an exhibition
Turkish Eczacıbaşı Holding admitted that the four Turkish citizens were its employees who went to Italy to participate in an exhibition in the province of Treviso, according to Hurriyet.
"The Agusta Koala AW119 helicopter disappeared from radar over the province of Modena and there has been no communication since then," the company said in a statement. "The Turkish Foreign Ministry and Turkish diplomats in the country are in contact with the Italian authorities," it added."
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