A private chopper with seven people on board went off the radar in northern Italy. Officials were alarmed when the aircraft did not reach the destination at the estimated time of arrival.
As per Italian media reports, the chopper departed from the Capannori Lucca Tassignano airport in Lucca, for a one-hour journey to Treviso, northeastern Italy.
The seven people on board included the Italian pilot, four Turkish citizens and two people from Lebanon. The chopper took off at 9.30 am local time on Thursday and was scheduled to land by 10.30 am, but disappeared mid-flight, somewhere in northern Italy, the Mirror reported.
The rescue teams were alerted immediately and a search has been organized between the regions of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. It resumed again this morning after being called off last night, as per La Stampa.
The chopper was hired by a chemical manufacturer company called Roto Court to transport clients to a new plant. According to the director of the company, Giuliano Gelain, the aircraft is used to travelling the distance at least twice a day.
Dismissing any theories of a crash, Gelain told ANS, Italian news media said that if no emergency signal was sent then he is 'confident' that a crash has not occurred. Local news Reggio reports that the authorities are also keeping their eyes open for an emergency landing in a remote area.
