Israel Matzav

At least six injured in helicopter crash

The following report comes from the Jerusalem Post's Israel Alert service. No link on the website yet. I'm a little unclear about where this took place, because I am not familiar with the town named in the report:

IAF helicopter crashes, at least six wounded

Crash sparks huge blaze and firefighters were struggling to contain the flames and allow rescue workers to reach the burning helicopter. The fire continued to spread engulfing a hilltop orchard over looking the town of Rehaniya, some four kilometers south of the Lebanese border.

Update 1:58 PM

Here is a bit clearer and more detailed report on the same story that just went up on YNet:

A combat Apache helicopter crashed Monday afternoon not far from Safed. Firefighters, paramedics, and the IDF have been rushed to the scene.

IDF sources say the crash took place following an accident and that the incident was not caused by a Hizbullah rocket.

The helicopter crashed is of the same type of helicopters which crashed on Thursday in the Upper Galilee.

What's not clear to me in all this is that six people sounds like an awful lot to be on one combat helicopter. As far as I can tell, an Apache carries a crew of two (unless some of the injured were people on the ground?).

Update 4:37 PM

I can now give you a more accurate update.

Two pilots were injured when the helicopter crashed north of Tsfat (Safed). Several other soldiers - presumably on the ground - were also wounded in the incident.

A high ranking IAF officer told The Jerusalem Post that an initial report that the helicopter got entangled in an electrical wire was false, saying that the helicopter was flying at an altitude that was much higher than the electric cable.

The officer said that the IDF was looking into the possibility that the Apache helicopter was shot down by Hizbullah anti-aircraft fire.

He said that the helicopter was in the midst of a mission to assist ground troops while hovering near the northern border.

The officer told The Post that there was no decision to ground IAF aircraft following the incident.

He said that there did not appear to be a connection between Monday's crash and last Thursday's incident when two other Apache gun ships collided over northern Israel. Maj. Ran Yehoshua Kochava, 37, was killed and three other pilots were injured - one critically - in the collision.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:59 PM