Helicopter with 4 Turkish nationals on board goes missing in Italy

ROME

A helicopter with seven people on board, including four Turkish and two Lebanese nationals, has gone missing in central Italy, official sources and local media said on Friday.

A single-engine red Agusta Koala helicopter with an Italian pilot took off from the Capannori Lucca Tassignano Airport in Lucca for Treviso on Thursday morning but soon disappeared from radar, according to Italian daily Il Gazzettino.

The four Turkish nationals on board the copter worked for Turkish corporation Eczacibasi, diplomatic sources in Italy told Anadolu Agency.

In a statement, Eczacibasi said: "We did not hear from the helicopter that took our four colleagues from Eczacibasi Consumer Products to go to a tissue paper production facility in Italy for a paper technology fair.”

According to preliminary information, the helicopter disappeared at the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.

However, as of this writing, there is no definite information concerning the location of the missing copter, according to the sources.

The Turkish Embassy in Rome maintains regular communication with both Italian authorities and Turkish company officials, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Italian authorities launched a search of the Apennine region on the border between the provinces of Lucca and Modena, particularly the area between Pievepelago and San Pellegrino in Alpe, according to the daily.

The operation was suspended on Thursday night due to darkness and resumed on Friday morning, sources told Anadolu Agency.