Two helicopters collided mid-air in Finland, resulting in the deaths of five people. The incident occurred shortly after noon near the town of Kauttua, close to Eura Airport in southwestern Finland.
According to Detective Chief Inspector Johannes Siirilä of the National Bureau of Investigation, “Five people have died in a helicopter accident near Eura Airport on Saturday”.
The helicopters, registered in Estonia and Austria, belonged to Estonian companies NOBE and Eleon. They were reportedly en route to a hobby aviation event at the Pori Aviation Club. The police said both helicopters were carrying a total of five people, with two aboard one helicopter and three in the other.
A witness, Antti Marjanen, described seeing one helicopter hit the other during a maneuver. “One of them dropped like a stone and the other one more slowly. I didn’t hear any sound,” Marjanen said.
The National Bureau of Investigation is leading a joint probe with local police, with Finnish and Estonian authorities cooperating to determine the cause of the collision. The investigation is ongoing.