A US Army Black Hawk helicopter was forced to land on Thursday in central Bucharest, in Charles de Gaulle Square, bringing down 2 lamp posts during the procedure.<\/p>\n
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The aircraft was part of a group of 6 helicopters training for the Romanian Air Forces Day on 20 July, and for a ceremony the following day to mark the end of Romanias nearly 20-year long military participation in the international mission in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
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The images shot by eyewitnesses indicate that the helicopter, which had reported technical problems, suddenly lost altitude and flew over the vehicles moving on one of Bucharests main boulevards, before landing in a roundabout cleared by the police in time to avoid a possible tragedy. Two cars were damaged, but nobody has been injured.<\/p>\n
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Because of the incident, the military parade on Air Forces Day will not include aircraft flights, and Hercules and Spartan aircraft having taken part in the missions in Afghanistan will take part in the 21 July ceremonies. The decisions were made by the Romanian defence ministry, which cancelled the training flights scheduled for these days over Bucharest for the 2 events. \u201cCitizen safety is very important to us, which is why measures have been taken to prevent such incidents in the future, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
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The military prosecutors office started a criminal investigation in this respect, according to spokesman Florin Bobin:<\/p>\n
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Florin Bobin<\/strong>: \u201cA criminal case has been opened, to investigate the incident. Most likely we are talking about a violation of Art. 349 – 350 Criminal Code, failure to take and failure to observe workplace safety and security measures. We are complying with all the relevant regulations, including the Treaty regulating the presence of the US military forces on Romanian territory.<\/p>\n
The US Embassy in Bucharest announced it was closely monitoring the incident involving the American helicopter, and said it was working with the Romanian authorities to address the situation.<\/p>\n
Black Hawk is a 2-engine military helicopter produced by the US company Lokheed Martin. Romania plans to purchase 12 such helicopters for around 270 million euro, with the funding coming from the state budget and EU sources. (tr. A.M. Popescu<\/em>)<\/p>\n
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