Remains of IDF crewman recovered from crash site in Romania

By ICEJ News

28 Jul 2010

IDF recovery teams have found the remains of six Israeli Air Force crewman and their Romanian comrade killed when their CH-53 transport helicopter crashed during a training mission in Romania Monday night. The team, which included troops from the elite search-and-rescue unit 669, Oketz elite canine unit which includes dogs specially trained to locate body parts, Rabbinical Corps, Medical Corps and Spokesperson's Unit landed in Romania early Wednesday morning and were immediately taken to the crash site in the Carpathian mountains by their Romanian hosts, who had rushed to secure the site early Tuesday morning. "The wreckage is scattered over a large area," a senior IDF officer told the Jerusalem Post. "The teams are at the site working to collect the remains and pieces of the wreckage which are required for the air force's investigation into what caused the crash." Despite the remote location and steep terrain, Romanian officials managed to recover the aircrafts black box Tuesday evening, and the investigation is focusing on either mechanical failure or possibly pilot error in the thick fog and high winds as possible causes of the crash.

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