NAZARETH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Israeli occupation army admitted on Wednesday the death of two soldiers and the injury of seven others, four of whom seriously injured, after the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter while carrying out a mission to evacuate a wounded soldier in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, with the first fatal crash of its kind in 30 years.
The Israeli occupation army announced opening an investigation into the incident, claiming that initial information indicates that the helicopter crash “was not exposed to a hostile fire, and it appears that it happened due to a technical malfunction or human error.”
According to Walla Hebrew website, the Black Hawk helicopter constitutes the backbone of transport and rescue helicopters in the Israeli army, indicating that it can carry 14 to 22 soldiers.
The Yedioth Aharonot newspaper reported that the helicopter crash resulted in three critical and four moderate injuries, including the soldier who was supposed to be rescued.
The newspaper, however, said that the helicopter was on its way to save a soldier who was shot by a Palestinian sniper, pointing out that the helicopter arrived to evacuate the injured soldier after midnight, explaining that in the last stage of landing, the helicopter collided with the ground near the Philadelphi axis, and crashed for an unknown reason.
The newspaper pointed out that four helicopters recovered the wounded soldiers in an operation that lasted for hours early at dawn.
The newspaper quoted the Israeli army as saying that the crash of the helicopter was the first of its kind since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, but it is not the first incident of a helicopter damage.
