Fire-fighting helicopter crashes into French pond while refilling water, no fatalities
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Its pilot and crew member were taken to hospital and have since been discharged, said rescuers.
PHOTO: VILLE.ROSPORDEN/FACEBOOK
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A helicopter deployed to fight a fire in the French countryside crashed into a pond while it was refilling a water bucket on the evening of Aug 24.
Its pilot and crew member survived. They were taken to hospital and have since been discharged, said rescuers.
A mechanic of the company that owned the helicopter was at the edge of the pond when the crash happened. He has been given counselling.
The helicopter was responding to a fire in a residence in the Kernevellian countryside, said Mr Michel Loussouarn, mayor of Rosporden in west Brittany, France, whose fire and rescue service had deployed the aircraft.
The cause of the fire was linked to the illegal burning of waste material, according to the initial findings of the town’s rescue unit, the SDIS. The act of starting a fire is outlawed during the summer.
The anti-pollution unit of the SDIS placed filtering barriers around the aircraft to limit any pollution risks from its fuel entering the pond.
In a Facebook post, Mr Loussouarn urged residents near the pond to avoid opening their windows because of pollution risks.
Fishing and boating activities were prohibited on the pond while operations to retrieve the helicopter were ongoing.
