Romanian helicopter crashes in search of fighter jet; seven dead

Seven military rescuers in Romania were killed when the helicopter they were carrying crashed. They had been sent to search for a missing Romanian Air Force fighter plane.

The cause of the crash is still unclear. The helicopter had reported bad weather conditions. Therefore, the rescue team was called back to base. The helicopter, an IAR 330-Puma, finally crashed near the village of Gura Dobrogei in the east of the country, not far from the Black Sea.

The missing fighter plane has still not been found. It’s a MiG 21 LanceR. The MiG took off at 7:50 p.m. local time and lost radio contact with the air base at 8:00 p.m. Three minutes later, it disappeared from radar. At 8:21 p.m., the helicopter took off in search of the plane. At 8:44 p.m., he disappeared from radar.

MiGs are replaced

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis expressed his condolences in a statement: “I express my deepest regrets and my most sincere condolences for the loss of seven soldiers from the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base.”

More accidents have occurred in recent years with the same type of fighter aircraft. In 2018, a pilot was killed when his plane crashed during an air show in southern Romania. Romania is reducing the use of this type of aircraft. In the future, the country only wants to use F-16s.