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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Dave Burke

Helicopter goes missing in Italy with seven on board as frantic search launched

A frantic search has been launched after a helicopter with seven people on board vanished after taking off in northern Italy.

The aircraft is understood to have left Capannori Lucca Tassignano airport in Lucca yesterday morning, and was due to make an hour-long journey to Treviso, but never arrived at its destination.

Volunteers are searching for the missing chopper in what officials describe as vast and largely uninhabited terrain.

Local media reports that the helicopter had been hired by a household chemical manufacturer named Roto Court to transport clients to a new plant.

Giuliano Gelain, a director at the company, told Italian news agency ANSA he was "confident" the chopper had not crashed, as it did not send out an emergency signal.

A search of the region around Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna has resumed this morning after being called off last night, reports La Stampa.

A search has been launched for the missing chopper in Northern Italy (file image) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Those on board are reported to be an Italian pilot, four Turkish nationals and two people from Lebanon.

The flight took off at 9.30am local time, and was expected to land at 10.30am, but it vanished from radars a short time later.

Italian news site Reggio reports that an emergency landing in a remote area has not been ruled out.

Mr Gelain said that the chopper usually carries clients backwards and forwards twice a day.

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