One person has died in a helicopter crash near the city of Aerzen in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont in Lower Saxony, according to Germany's DPA. The agency reported, citing a spokesman from the firefighter services that the crashed aircraft was a military helicopter.
#Aerzen: Kurz vor 14 Uhr ist ein Hubschrauber der Bundeswehr aus Bückeburg abgestürzt. Das Wrack liegt auf einem Kornfeld in der Nähe eines Waldes und brennt. Nach ersten Informationen der Polizei soll die Pilotin verstorben sein. Außerdem gibt es einen Schwerverletzten. pic.twitter.com/wdW3fm9do1
— Kriminalreport Deutschland (@kriminalreport1) July 1, 2019
Bild later reported that the victim was the aircraft's female pilot. At the moment there is no official information about what could have caused the crash.
Hubschrauber-Absturz: im Bereich Aerzen-Dehmke ist ein Hubschrauber der Bundeswehr abgestürzt. Einsatzkräfte von Feuerwehr, Rettungsdienst und Polizei sind zahlreich vor Ort. #HM010719 pic.twitter.com/JWIGGenHew
— Polizei Hameln (@Polizei_HM) July 1, 2019
The Bundeswehr has confirmed the crash of its Eurocopter EC 135 training helicopter, adding that there were two people onboard the aircraft.
The aircraft crashed about 30 kilometres from The German School of Army Aviation, based in Bückeburg. There is also a training ground in the nearby city of Laatzen, which hosted a NATO airbase from 1964 to 1995.
The incident occurred one week after a deadly collision of two Bundeswehr fighter jets that left one of the pilots dead. According to the investigators, the catastrophe might have been caused by one of the pilots mishearing a command he received over the radio from the control tower.
