BOLOGNA – No survivors. What was feared now is a tragic reality: the bodies of the pilot and the six passengers on board the helicopter who disappeared Thursday morning on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines were found and whose remains were sighted today on Mount Cusna, the Reggio peak.
The victims are Corrado Levorin33, from Padua, expert helicopter pilot, and Turkish entrepreneurs Serhat Edge, Arif Cez, Ilker Ucak, Altug Erbil and Lebanese Chadi Kreidy e Tarek El Tayak.
The helicopter would have crashed on the bed of a stream, the Lama, at the Passo degli Scaloni, 1,922 meters above sea level, two kilometers from the Segheria refuge. The area is particularly rough and there was a storm in progress when the helicopter arrived in the area. One of the Lebanese passengers sent his son a film of a few seconds allegedly made before the aircraft was engulfed in the storm.
All the forces that participated in the operations coordinated by the prefecture of Modena rushed to the site of the impact: the Air Force, the Alpine Rescue, the Financial Police, the Carabinieri of Castelnuovo Monti. The testimony of an Air Force soldier who posted on his Twitter profile is dramatic: “We had the coordinates, we went to the place and we found everything burned. The helicopter is inside a valley, near a stream”.
Missing helicopter, found on Monte Cusna. The testimony of the Air Force: “On the spot we found everything burned”
Helicopter disappeared in the Apennines: who is the pilot Corrado Levorin
by Giuseppe Baldessarro
The helicopter, hired by Elettric80, a manufacturer of Viano (Reggio Emilia), for a few days was commuting between Tuscany and Veneto to bring foreign managers from the “It’s Tissue” fair in Lucca to the Roto Cart in Castelminio di Resana, in the Treviso area. “It is with deep sorrow and condolence that E80 Group has just learned of the tragic disappearance of the passengers and the pilot. The group gathers around the families, colleagues and friends of the victims” is the sad note of the company.
The Turkish managers were all employees of “Eczacba Holding” a Turkish industrial group that owns about 38 companies, ranging from the pharmaceutical sector to that of building materials, passing through various high-finance consumer products.
The aircraft, an Agusta Koala of the company Avio Helicopters Srl of Thiene (Vicenza), departed on 9 June at 9.30 in the morning from Capannori Tassignano airport. The last trace, from a mobile phone, was detected around 11.50 am near Pievepelago on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. No alarm signals were issued.
The search operations were frenetic, with a large deployment of forces – including drones and dogs as well as helicopters – and were followed in Italy by the Turkish embassy in Rome and by the consulate, in contact with the Italian authorities. The prefect of Modena Alessandra Camporota personally coordinated the research activities by receiving a diplomatic delegation from Turkey, led by Ambassador Omer Gucuk, and the Lebanese ambassador Mira Daher, who came from Rome to assist in the research activities of their compatriots.
“We express our sorrow for our fellow citizens who lost their lives in the tragic helicopter accident in Italy, and our condolences to their families, relatives and to the Eczacibasi Holding of which they are part” writes the Turkish embassy on Twitter in Rome. “We also offer our condolences to the families of the Lebanese passengers and the Italian pilot who lost their lives in the accident”.
Helicopter crashed in the Apennines, the video sent by a Lebanese passenger to his son
Helicopter with 7 people on board lost in the Apennines, searches shot from above
The hypotheses and investigations
On the dynamics of the disaster on the Cusna it is impossible to unbalance, however one of the hypotheses being examined could be linked to bad weather. There is the seconds-long video that one of the passengers sent to his son in Lebanon on the flight in the clouds, which could possibly be scrutinized. Although Levorin was recognized by his colleagues as a prepared and attentive pilot, a violent disturbance was raging at the time of the overflight of that stretch of the Apennines on Thursday morning. In any case, the Reggio Emilia Public Prosecutor’s Office will establish what happened and will open an investigation into the accident with the hypothesis of a culpable disaster offense.
Helicopter crashed in the Apennines, the video sent by a Lebanese passenger to his son
The judicial authority also has the task of carrying out surveys in the impact area, which has been seized. The bodies were recovered, an operation carried out by the Alpine Rescue of the Guardia di Finanza, which will now be identified before being returned to family members. The National Agency for Flight Safety (ANSV), which sent its own investigator, also opened a safety investigation into the case.
The pain: “Finished hopes”
“Unfortunately, the hopes are over. We are dismayed and speechless. We hoped until the end, but it ended in the worst way”: these are the words of Giuliano Gelain, Sole Director of Roto-Cart SpA, the company of Castelminio di Resana, in the Treviso area, specialized in the production of paper for domestic use towards which the fallen helicopter was directed. “Great is my regret, and that of the whole company, in learning the dramatic news – underlines Gelain -. We are saddened because we were waiting for them and we would have known them willingly, as it was with the groups that preceded them. moment of joy and collaboration that should have taken place on Thursday, has turned into a horrible tragedy. We join the pain of the families of the people involved in the disaster to whom we offer our condolences “.