An Italian Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter serving with the European Union’s EUFOR Althea peacekeeping mission crashed on Thursday, October 29, near the village of Gorice in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Brcko District, killing four people and injuring 11 others, according to figures from the EU force and a local hospital. The cause is under investigation, and the Italian government has expressed grief over the loss.
EUFOR said four personnel on board were killed and 11 injured, and that the injured are in stable condition, according to reporting on October 29-30. Early local reports put the toll at three dead and 12 injured, but a Brcko hospital spokesperson later said a fourth person died of injuries in hospital. EUFOR said the aircraft was on a routine mission and that no civilians were injured and no civilian property was damaged.
Wreckage in an uninhabited area near Gorice
The aircraft went down in the Gorice area of the Brcko District, a self-governing territory in northern Bosnia near the Serbian border, according to the report. Images carried by local media showed a military transport helicopter overturned on the ground and broken into pieces. Brcko Mayor Sinisa Milic said the helicopter came down in an uninhabited area not far from the first houses of the settlement, and that a large quantity of kerosene had spilled near the wreckage, requiring caution from responders.
Brcko hospital spokesperson Salih Ibrahimbegovic said 12 people were brought to the hospital and that a fourth person died from injuries there, adding that three of the 15 people on the helicopter were killed in the crash itself. Italian outlets reported four Italian soldiers killed and eleven injured, while one Italian business daily cited sources suggesting two of the dead may have been Red Cross workers — a detail not confirmed in official statements, and the identities and nationalities of the dead have not been officially released.
EUFOR investigation under way
Italy’s Defence Ministry said the helicopter, engaged in the EUFOR Althea operation, crashed for reasons still under investigation and that rescue services intervened promptly, according to the report. EUFOR has opened a full investigation, as is standard after a fatal military aviation accident, and officials said findings would determine whether the crash was mechanical, weather-related or caused by another factor.
EUFOR Althea has operated in Bosnia since 2004, succeeding NATO’s stabilisation force, and its helicopters routinely fly transport and liaison missions across the country. Thursday’s crash is among the deadliest single incidents for the mission in recent years, and it comes as Bosnia’s peacekeeping presence remains politically sensitive. For the families of the dead and injured, the official investigation will matter less in the coming days than the return of bodies and the care of survivors.
