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Romania authorities: Entire helicopter crew killed in crash

27 July 2010 22:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Forensic experts, IDF Rabbinate reps prepare to depart crash site to identify 7 bodies; IDF informs families of announcement; chopper apparently burst into flames after hitting mountain, APA reports quoting The Jerusalem Post.

Romanian authorities on Tuesday declared dead the entire crew of the an IAF Yasour helicopter which crashed in Romania on Monday. Six IAF servicemen and one Romanian soldier were aboard the aircraft.

The IDF transferred the information to the families of the missing servicemen in Israel, and informed them about the announcement.

Teams of forensic experts and members of the IDF rabbinate were preparing at a Romanian air force base to depart to the scene of the crash, to collect and identify the remains of the IAF servicemen.

Early Tuesday, the IDF released the names of the six Israelis involved in the crash: Lt. Col (Res.) Avner Goldman, 48, from Modi’in; Lt. Col. Daniel Shipenbauer, 43, from Moshav Kidron; Maj. Yahel Keshet, 33, from Hatzerim; Maj. Lior Shai, 28, from Tel-Nof; Lt. Nir Lakrif, 25, from Tel- Nof; and Staff Sergeant Oren Cohen, 24, from Rehovot.

Romanian officials had said earlier Tuesday that the wreckage of the helicopter had been found and none of the seven soldiers aboard appeared to have survived the crash.

Mircea Opris, Romania’s chief mountain rescue official, said that the chopper had burst into flames after it hit a mountain wall in a remote area of central Romania.

"It is totally dismembered," Opris said in an interview with Realitatea TV.

Ciprian Aldea, a spokesman for the local police force, said human remains and helicopter parts were scattered in the area.

"Corpses, as such, have not been found. It is a very difficult area, very rocky," he said. "You can’t reach the area without the appropriate search equipment."

Army Radio reported that two Hercules transport planes from Tel-Nof airbase landed in Romania early Tuesday afternoon. The planes were carrying medical, rabbinical and search-and-rescue teams as well as equipment to assist in the search for the bodies of the seven soldiers who were on the helicopter.

Romanian army and rescue personnel also reached the helicopter crash site on Tuesday afternoon, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced.

The Romanian team has begun collecting debris from the site.