BOLOGNA – The searches were active for the whole afternoon in the Apennines, on the border between the provinces of Modena and Lucca, for a missing helicopter. The aircraft left at 9.30 in the morning from Capannori Tassignano airport, in the province of Lucca, and was headed for the Treviso area. The last trace was found around 11.50 am near Pievepelago on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. On board, in addition to the 33-year-old driver Corrado Levorin, from Padua, there were six entrepreneurs in the paper sector for domestic use: four Turks and two Lebanese.
The last report of the helicopter, an AV 119 Koala della Augusta, would place it in the territory above the mountains of Modenese, on the border with Tuscany. Foreign entrepreneurs were expected in Castelminio di Resana (Treviso), as confirmed by sources from Roto Cart, a company specializing in the production of paper. The aircraft had been commuting between Lucca, Reggio Emilia and the Treviso area for three days to bring some buyers to the company.
The area of the disappearance is more precisely that of the ridge between San Pellegrino in Alpe, Pievepelago, Piandelagotti, where a storm of wind, rain, hail and a storm with thunder and lightning struck at times compatible with those of the flight.
The searches in the afternoon were attended by mountain rescue helicopters, which based at the Pavullo airport (Modena), for supplies and logistics, and another rescue and search vehicle of the Air Force, as well as the Guardia di Finance. Ground teams and 24 volunteers from the Emilia-Romagna regional civil protection also left. They are scouring inaccessible areas, woods and escarpments, vast and largely uninhabited. The searches in the dark were interrupted to resume at the first light of dawn.
Levorin is a pilot of Avio Helicopters which is based at the Arturo Ferrarin airport in Thiene (Vicenza) and hires vehicles for tourist and business flights. Despite his young age he is also a flight instructor and is considered an experienced helicopter pilot.
(news being updated)