Rome — All seven people aboard a helicopter that crashed in the in northern Italy's Apennine mountains died, local officials said on Saturday.
Rescue workers found the missing helicopter on the border of the Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany regions after about two days of searching. They were tipped off by a hiker who had spotted parts of the aircraft.
"We had coordinates and flew to the site - we found everything burnt," an air force soldier said in a video tweeted by the military. The wreck was in a difficult-to-access area and rescue workers had to get there on foot, he said.
The helicopter had seven people in total on board: the Italian pilot, along with four Turkish and two Lebanese businessmen.
An Italian company that produces, among other things, kitchen paper towels had chartered the helicopter. It disappeared from radar without a trace on its way from Lucca in Tuscany to the northern Italian region of Veneto on Thursday. It was initially unclear why the helicopter went down.
According to the prefecture of Modena, the diplomatic missions of both Turkey and Lebanon were informed of the find on Saturday. The four Turkish citizens are employees of the company Eczacıbaşı, which said they were in Italy to attend a business fair.
"We wish Allah's mercy upon our friends, the helicopter pilot and other passengers who lost their lives in this tragic accident. Our condolences to their families," Eczacıbaşı wrote in statement on its website.
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