Aosta Valley crash: Five killed in north Italy after midair collision between helicopter and tourist aircraft; injured evacuated to hospital

Five people were killed and one injured when a helicopter collided with a tourist aircraft in the Alps in northern Italy, The Associated Press reported.

#ValledAosta, ghiacciaio del #Rutor: le vittime accertate sono 5. Proseguono le operazioni. Qui la prima foto aerea dal luogo dell'incidente. Seguono aggiornamenti. pic.twitter.com/cHpaVe0PBJ

— Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico (@cnsas_official) January 25, 2019

The Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico (CNSAS), Italy’s mountain rescue service, reported on Twitter that “a crash between a helicopter and a light aircraft” above Rutor glacier, in the Aosta Valley near France, and sent two helicopters to help.

According to the latest tweet from the mountain rescue service, the total number of victims in the helicopter-plane crash is five.

The mountain rescue service also tweeted that rescue operations are on and that the two injured were transported to a nearby hospital.

“Mountain Rescue technicians were on the spot along with medical personnel and emergency evacuation team with teams specialised in cutting sheet metal,” the mountain rescue service tweeted.

According to AP, Alpine rescue corps spokesman Walter Milan said the accident occurred at an altitude of around 3,000 meters (9.843 feet) on Friday afternoon and the two aircraft carried six people.