Five killed when two helicopters collide in Finland – police

FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

HELSINKI — All five people on board two helicopters were killed Saturday when the aircraft collided 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 Tallinn and were bound for Piikajarvi, a few kilometers from where they came down.

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Media reports said 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 maneuver.

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