Italian rescue workers have found two more bodies after a mid-air collision between a helicopter and a light aircraft in the Italian Alps, bringing the death toll to seven, the alpine rescue corps said on Saturday.
Two bodies were found in the snow far from the wrecks of the two aircraft, a spokesman for the rescuers said.
On Friday the rescue corps posted a video of the Rutor glacier in the Aosta Valley, some 50 miles northwest of the city of Turin, showing one of the aircraft partly submerged in deep snow.
Two survivors were found on Friday.It is not yet clear how the accident happened.
The National Alpine Rescue Corps (CNSAS) tweeted that it had concluded the search on Saturday as all those on board the aircraft were now accounted for.
The wreckage of a light private plane after it collided in flight with a helicopter above the Rutor glacier, close to La Thuile, northwestern Italian Alps, killing seven
Seven people were killed and two are injured, one of whom is a French flight instructor who is under investigation by an Italian prosecutor
But a French flight instructor who was one of two survivors of the accident is being investigated by an Italian prosecutor.
Italian news agency ANSA quoted Aosta Chief Prosecutor Paolo Fortuna saying he was investigating the instructor for alleged manslaughter and had questioned him in a hospital intensive care unit.
ANSA says the instructor reportedly was sitting in the rear of the plane – a French tourist Jodel model with three people on board – and his two students were in front.
The relief operations were attended by the CNSAS, medical staff of 118 and a canine unit (pictured)
A National Alpine rescuer tries to clear some of the wreckage of the helicopter after the smash
The accident took place on Friday afternoon close to the Rutor glacier, in the valley of La Thuile, Valle d’Aosta, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the city of Turin
The helicopter, piloted by Maurizio Scarpelli from Italy, was carrying a German alpine guide and four German heli-skiers.
Italian media reported that the crash appeared to have happened just after the helicopter took off, unaware that the aircraft was landing.
The helicopter was bringing skiers to the Rutor glacier in the valley of La Thuile, Valle d’Aosta, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the city of Turin.
