Five dead after two helicopters collide in Finland

A fire department vehicle arrives at the crash site near the Eura Airfield in Eura, Finland. Photo / Petri Hakosalolehtikuva, Lehtikuva, AFP

• Two helicopters collided in mid-air in Finland, killing all five people on board, police said.
• The helicopters, carrying two and three people, took off from Tallinn and were headed for Piikajarvi.
• Witness Antti Marjanen reported seeing one helicopter hit the other during a manoeuvre.

All five people on board two helicopters were killed when the aircraft collided in mid-air in Finland and crashed to the ground, police said.

“Five people died in a helicopter accident near Eura Airport on Saturday,” Detective Chief Inspector Johannes Siirila said in a statement.

According to their flight plans, one was carrying two people and the other three. They had taken off from the Estonian capital of Tallinn and were bound for Piikajarvi, a few kilometres from where they came down.

Media reports said that those on board were businessmen.

Finnish newspaper Iltalehti quoted one witness, Antti Marjanen, who reported seeing one of the helicopters hit the other during a manoeuvre.

“One of them dropped like a stone and the other one more slowly. I didn’t hear any sound,” Marjanen was quoted as saying.

-Agence France-Presse