Helicopter crash kills 4 Greek army officers
Four Greek army officers were killed on Wednesday when their helicopter crashed in a hilly area in the center of the country, military authorities said.
A female sergeant major on board the military aircraft was injured but is expected to recover.
The dead include a major general, a colonel, a major and a lieutenant, the military high command said in a statement.
The Huey UH-1H helicopter had left early Wednesday from Larissa, in the center of the country, heading north toward Kozani, army spokesman Colonel Nikolaos Fanios earlier told AFP.
State television ERT said the helicopter likely hit power cables.
Multi-purpose helicopters, Hueys are among the oldest aircraft in Greece's arsenal. The model first saw action with the US armed forces during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
However, the high command on Wednesday said that the helicopter that crashed was fully operational.
Three Greek soldiers died last year when their Agusta Bell navy helicopter crashed into a small Aegean Sea islet during a pre-dawn exercise.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/04/19 ... pter-Crash" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Greek armed forces investigate crash that killed four officers
The Greek military on Wednesday was investigating the cause of a helicopter crash that killed four army officers and injured a fifth, prompting Defense Minister Panos Kammenos to declare three days of national mourning.
The UH-1H helicopter crashed near the village of Sarantaporo in Elassona, central Greece, on Wednesday morning, during a routine patrol flight, according to defense sources.
Such routine flights are regularly carried out as part of exercises to monitor the country’s northern borders, the sources said.
The officers killed in the crash were Major-General Yiannis Tzanidakis, Colonel Thomas Adamou, Major Dimosthenis Goulas and First Lieutenant Constantinos Hatzis. Sergeant Major Vassiliki Plexida emerged from the wreckage with relatively minor injuries but remained in shock late on Wednesday.
It remained unclear what went wrong and caused the so-called Huey chopper to crash.
The UH-1H disappeared from the air force radar shortly before 8 a.m., prompting authorities to dispatch two F-16s, three rescue helicopters and a CL-415 fire service aircraft to search for it.
Police in the area of Sarantaporo reported a helicopter crash shortly after 10 a.m.
The fall knocked out the power supply in the area, raising questions about whether the helicopter hit electricity lines.
Military officials indicated that the UH-1H in question had not had any mechanical problems.
Authorities are expected to question Plexida when she has recovered from her injuries and shock.
Separately Kammenos lashed out at Ankara after six Turkish fighter jets violated Greek air space in the Aegean in wake of the four army deaths.
“The violations on a day of mourning in the Greek armed forces... show the quality of the Turks,” Kammenos wrote on his Twitter account.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/217760/arti ... r-officers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sole survivor of helicopter crash says aircraft got tangled in power lines
The sole survivor of a military helicopter crash that killed four army officers has said that the aircraft got tangled in power lines before going down.
The UH-1H helicopter crashed on Wednesday near the village of Sarantaporo in Elassona, central Greece, during a routine patrol flight.
During her testimony, excerpts of which were published Thursday in Ethnos daily, Sergeant Major Vassiliki Plexida, who emerged from the wreckage with relatively minor injuries, said that the so-called Huey chopper had been flying in reduced visibility due to fog.
The officers killed in the crash were Major-General Yiannis Tzanidakis, Colonel Thomas Adamou, Major Dimosthenis Goulas and First Lieutenant Constantinos Hatzis.
Defense Minister Panos Kammenos declared three days of national mourning in the wake of the accident.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/217773/arti ... ower-lines" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;