Officer killed as 2 IDF choppers collide, then crash

[Scurrilous]

Two Apache combat helicopters on way to mission in Lebanon make contact in mid-air, crash south of Kiryat Shmona; officer killed, three soldiers wounded. IDF believes crash caused by accident

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3279176,00.html

<snip>

"An Israel Defense Forces officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded as two Apache (Cobra) combat helicopters on their way to Lebanon to assist IDF forces operating against Hizbullah terrorists near Avivim collided and then crashed in the Ramot Naftali area, near the Koach junction south of Kiryat Shmona. Rescue forces were mobilized to the scene.

The circumstances of the incident are unclear and are currently been checked. The IDF believes the crash was caused by an accident.

According to an initial investigation, the helicopters apparently made contact in mid-air and then prepared for an emergency landing that went awry.

Rescue teams found the first chopper and were able to locate the second one minutes later.

A witness told Ynet that he and his friends noticed an air craft descending. "I told my friends, 'look something is falling out of the sky, it's going to crash.' After a few minutes I heard ambulances and I saw IDF forces and police heading to the area where the helicopter fell," the witness said."

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[shain from kane]

2. Replacements being delivered as we speak. Will get to Israel before

rescue ships arrive at Lebanon.

[eyl]

3. We must have a local version

of the Bermuda Triangle there*.

*In 1996 or in 1997, two troop-laden helicopter transports collided not far from where this occured, in what I think is the worst helicopter accident in aviation history.