by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
SARAJEVO/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Four Italians serving with the European Union’s peacekeeping force have been killed and 11 others injured after an Italian military helicopter crashed during a training exercise in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina on Thursday, officials confirmed.
The CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near the village of Gorice, close to the town of Brčko in northeastern Bosnia, during what the European Union Force (EUFOR) described as a routine training exercise.
Photographs published by the Bosnian news portal Klix showed the helicopter overturned and largely destroyed, with wreckage scattered across a grassy area.
All 15 people aboard were Italian nationals, according to Bosnian media reports. Italy’s Defense Ministry confirmed that two of those killed served in the Italian army, while two belonged to the Italian Red Cross’s Volunteer Military Corps.
EUFOR said the 11 injured personnel were receiving medical treatment, while Italian authorities reported that none was in a life-threatening condition.
ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER RESPONDS
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
Writing on social media platform X, Meloni said her thoughts were with the victims, their relatives and those serving in the mission to promote peace and stability in the region.
She also conveyed the solidarity of the Italian government to those affected by the crash.
EUFOR announced a “thorough and complete” investigation into the accident, saying further information would be released as it became available.
The force stressed that no civilians were injured and that no civilian infrastructure, property or vehicles had been damaged.
EUROPEAN PEACEKEEPING MISSION
The crash occurred as EUFOR continues its mission to maintain stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina, more than three decades after a devastating war that killed approximately 100,000 people and displaced millions.
EUFOR’s Operation Althea, comprising approximately 1,200 troops, took over peacekeeping responsibilities from the NATO military alliance in 2004.
Operating under a United Nations Security Council mandate, the force helps maintain a secure environment and oversees military provisions of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the 1992–1995 Bosnian war.
Bosnia-Herzegovina remains divided politically and administratively between its two main entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb-majority Republika Srpska, under a complex power-sharing arrangement established after the war.
The cause of Thursday’s crash remained under investigation.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
