Last photo of Turks killed in Italy helicopter crash unveiled

ROME

An Italian news site has published the last photograph of the four Turks taken minutes before a helicopter crash in the northern Italian city of Modena on June 9, without hinting the source.

“The last smile before the tragic accident,” Italy 24 News headlined on June 14.

A “A119 Koala Agusta” model chopper, carrying an Italian pilot, four Turks and two Lebanese, took off from an airport in the city of Lucca on route to Modena on the morning of June 9, however, it went off the radar half an hour later.

The seven dead bodies and the wreckage of the helicopter were found in a highland blanketed with forests two days later.

Turkish Eczacıbaşı Holding admitted immediately that the four Turkish passengers on the helicopter were its employees who were in Italy for an expo visit. The holding listed the names as, “Arif Cez, İlker Uçak, Serhat Kenar and Altuğ Erbil.”

The prosecutor’s office in Reggio Emilia opened an inquiry into the tragic event, however, Italian officials remarked their fear that the cause of the crash would never be discovered.

“The helicopter does not have a black box. Though, these types of choppers may not, it is normal,” an Italian expert visiting the wreckage said to Italian media outlets.

It is alleged that the helicopter crashed as the pilot made a wrong manoeuvre to “escape from the bad weather conditions.”