Turkish Eczacıbaşı Holding loses 4 employees in helicopter crash in Italy

Seven bodies have been found at the crash site of a helicopter that disappeared in Italy on June 9, including four Turkish nationals working for Eczacıbaşı Holding.

Reuters - Anadolu Agency

Rescuers have found the bodies of seven people killed in a helicopter crash in Italy, local authorities said on June 11, two days after the aircraft disappeared from radar screens.

The helicopter had taken off on Thursday from Lucca in Tuscany and was heading towards the northern city of Treviso when it was lost in bad weather over a remote area. Seven people were aboard the helicopter, including four Turkish and two Lebanese nationals.

"The rescuers have found dead the seven passengers from the helicopter, four of Turkish and two of Lebanese nationality, who were on a business trip to Italy. As well as the Italian pilot," the prefect's office in the city of Modena said in a statement.

The helicopter was found in a mountainous area on the border between Tuscany and the Emilia Romagna region, the statement said.

Prosecutors have cordoned off the area as part of the investigation into the incident.

"We got the coordinates, we went to the site and found everything burnt. The helicopter is basically inside a valley, near a stream," a rescuer said in a video posted on the Italian Air Force Twitter account.

Chairman of Eczacıbaşı Holding, which lost four of its employees in the crash, expressed his grief saying “we lost our friends,” on June 11.

“Unfortunately, we lost four very young, very successful, bright friends of us. Our grief is so great. I wish God's mercy on them, my condolences to their families,” said chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı.