An Italian Army CH-47 Chinook crashed in northern Bosnia during a routine mission. The toll, at the moment, is 3 victims and 12 injured
An Italian military helicopter crashed on the afternoon of Thursday 29 October in the village of Gorice, in the municipality of Brcko, in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina. The aircraft, a CH-47 Chinook, was engaged in operation Eufor Althea, the European Union mission that guarantees stability in the Balkan country. The causes of the accident are still under investigation.
The first budget, unfortunately, is heavy. Three people lost their lives, while 12 others were injured. This was announced by the mayor of Brcko, Sinia Milicspecifying that all those involved were transported and treated in the city hospital, whose medical staff was put on alert. Furthermore, some of the hospitalized patients are in critical condition. Confirmation also came from Salih Ibrahimbegovicspokesperson for the Brcko Health Center. At the moment, no information has yet been released on the nationality of the victims.
The mission of the Italian military helicopter
The Italian Ministry of Defense, at the moment, has chosen caution. In a note, he specified that “it is not possible to make further statements, pending more precise information, especially on the health conditions of the staff”. Confirmation of the incident came from the mission command in Sarajevo, with the announcement of an investigation: «Eufor can confirm that today an accident occurred during a routine operation in the Brcko region, which caused the crash of one of its aircraft. Following the accident, some Eufor staff tragically lost their lives and others were seriously injured.”
The mission, in any case, has very deep roots. Operation Althea, formally European Union Force Bosnia-Herzegovina, began in the (relatively) distant 2 December 2004, on a mandate from the UN Security Council, and took over the baton from the previous NATO mission called SFOR. It was the first real field operation conducted by the European Union in a country marked by the civil wars of the former Yugoslavia.
The original objectives were two: to support the Bosnian armed forces in the process of moving closer to NATO standards and to guarantee a stable context in the country. Then, in 2012, the mission took on a more targeted profile, essentially focusing on the training of local troops, a program successfully concluded in 2018. Today, the deployed contingent numbers around 1,100 men.
The CH-47 Chinook: a heavy transport helicopter
The aircraft involved is the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, one of the most recognizable military transport helicopters in the world. Its shape is unmistakable: two large rotors, one above the cockpit and one at the tail, instead of the traditional single rotor. About 15 meters long, it is equipped with two engines, four fixed wheels and a large rear door for loading. Its main feature is the ability to transport large loads, both internally and attached under the fuselage.
With around 1,300 examples produced in various versions, the Chinook is a long-lived design, still in use in the armed forces of numerous countries. In addition to the United States, it is in fact produced under license in Italy and Japan. In our country, in particular, it is also used in operations to put out forest fires.
