A plane operated by Vigili del Fuoco, Italy’s institutional agency for fire and rescue services, which is part of the Department of Fire, Public Rescue and Civil Defense of the Ministry of the Interior, crashed this Thursday, October 27, during operation in Linguaglossa, Sicily, southern Italy.
A video shows the moment when the aircraft performs the maneuver to release the fluid in the desired area, but it impacts against a mountain and explodes, leaving the witnesses of the accident perplexed:
According to La Sicilia, the aircraft seen in the above recording, a Canadair CL-215-6B11 (CL-415), crashed during a firefighting service and the two pilots, the only occupants, died.
According to the first information, provided by the General Command of the Fire Department, the aircraft fell due to the “impact of the hull against the coast of the mountain” and exploded as soon as it hit the ground.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, the crashed aircraft is the one registered under the registration I-DPCN.
“There were several explosions after the Canadair crashed. The plane is destroyed and firefighters are looking for the two pilots,” said Salvatore Cocina, regional director of civil defense, about the fire that engulfed the Catania area.
The two pilots are from the Babcock company that provides the service with Canadianair in Italy. On May 1 of this year, the contract with the Babcock company MCS Italia was renewed by the Ministry of the Interior until December 31, 2024.
The company, as stated on its website, has been a leader in air emergency medical services (EMs), in air fire prevention operations, for over 35 years, operating in Europe and Canada with more than 500 highly qualified professionals.
“I am sorry for the two victims of the Linguaglossa accident. My teams saw the Canadair go down, then the smoke,” continues Cocina. “Civil protection teams are on site, but the site is very steep.”
Tags: Images show plane hitting mountain firefighting Italy today
