Eight Dead As Helicopter Crashes Off Italy

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Monday October 30 8:38 PM ET Eight Dead As Helicopter Crashes Off Italy

LIVORNO, Italy (Reuters) - Seven members of the Italian military police and a prisoner were killed on Monday when their helicopter plunged into the sea off Tuscany shortly after take-off, a police spokesman said. ''The accident happened at around 10:00 p.m. in the province of Livorno,'' a Rome-based spokesman for the Carabinieri police told Reuters.

``Seven of the dead are Carabinieri and the other victim was a civilian. There were no other people on board.'' He said the helicopter, an AB 412, was on a routine flight from the island of Capraia, 30 miles from the Italian mainland, to Pisa.

It crashed shortly after take-off.

The cause of the accident was not known.

Police later named the seven officers as Riccardo Di Meo, aged 34, Elvio Possemato, 22, Rocco Vignola, 39, Cristiano Matano, 31, Ludovico Muratori, 43, Marco Zaccani, 30, and Massimiliano Montanino, 24.

They said the civilian was 35-year-old Alessandro Tullio Benelli who had been arrested in Capraia and was being transported to Pisa for trial.

By 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday (0000 GMT) rescuers had found six bodies. Three helicopters and a number of boats continued to search for the remaining two.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20001030/wl/crash_italy_dc_2.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 31, 2000


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