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Photo: Lukas Schulze/ dpa
Rescue teams have launched a large-scale search in northern Italy for a helicopter and its seven occupants that had been missing since the previous day.
According to a spokesman for the Alpine rescue service, a total of seven helicopters were involved in the operation after the search had to be canceled the day before due to bad weather.
Search in sparsely populated mountainous region
According to media reports, the pilot of the missing helicopter was supposed to take his passengers to a paper manufacturer.
Four of them came from Lebanon, two more from Turkey.
According to the spokesman, the search is in a sparsely populated, mountainous area between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.
The search is made more difficult by the fact that the helicopter probably fell into a wooded area.
Because of the dense foliage, it is difficult to see from the air.
Information about what exactly happened to the helicopter and why it disappeared from the radar is not yet available.
sak/AFP/dpa