Posted on 09/26/2005 3:32:42 PM PDT by joan
PODGORICA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP)--A helicopter belonging to a man charged with bribery in a military equipment scandal struck a power cable in northern Montenegro and plunged into a steep river canyon Monday, killing four people, police said.
The crash of the four-seat Gazelle chopper occurred around noon local time near Zabljak, 150 kilometers north of Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, police said in a statement.
A Serb pilot and three passengers - a Belgian, a Montenegrin, and an unidentified foreign national - were killed when the helicopter struck a high-voltage cable stretching over the 800-meter-deep Susica River canyon, police said.
The helicopter belonged to private military equipment manufacturer Mile Dragic, who was arrested last week and charged with offering bribes to military officials to secure an exclusive contract for his company with the Serbia-Montenegro army.
Dragic owned the four-seat French-designed helicopter produced in the 1980s under license by Bosnia's Soko aircraft company. Dragic in the past leased the chopper for private tours.
The helicopter took off Monday morning from Zrenjanin, northern Serbia, where Dragic's factory is located.
September 26, 2005 14:40 ET (18:40 GMT)
ping
Any pictures of the Gazelle? In better circumstances, of course.
And here are more from Google: Gazelle+helicopter
Okay, I did a dogpile.com search and found plenty of pictures.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.