Four Italian members of the European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) were killed and 11 others injured when an Italian military helicopter crashed during a training flight in the country’s north on Thursday, October 29, 2026. The aircraft, a CH-47 Chinook, came down near the village of Gorice in the Brcko District, about 180 kilometres north of the capital, Sarajevo.
EUFOR said the helicopter was on a routine training mission when it crashed, and that the 11 injured people were receiving medical treatment and were in stable condition. A total of 15 people were on board the aircraft, according to a spokesman for Brcko hospital, who said three people died at the crash site and a fourth later died in hospital.
Key Takeaways
- Four Italian EUFOR personnel were killed and 11 injured when a CH-47 Chinook crashed during a training flight near Gorice in the Brcko District on October 29, 2026.
- The dead were two Italian Army soldiers and two members of the Italian Red Cross Military Corps, named by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto.
- EUFOR said a full and thorough investigation was under way, and that no civilians were injured and no civilian property was damaged.
What Happened in Brcko
The Chinook crashed while taking off in the Brcko area, according to reports of the incident, after departing on Thursday from Viterbo in Italy and reaching Bosnia following a stopover at the Pratica di Mare military airport near Rome. Video footage of the crash showed the aircraft struggling to maintain propulsion at a low altitude before it came down in a field near Gorice.
EUFOR confirmed the crash in a statement and said it was conducting a full and thorough investigation. EUFOR said more information would be released once it had been verified, and added that no civilian infrastructure, property or vehicles were damaged, and there were no injuries to civilians.
EUFOR said a full and thorough investigation was under way, and more information would follow once it had been verified.
The Victims Named
Italy’s defence ministry said the victims were two soldiers and two Red Cross volunteers. Defence Minister Guido Crosetto named the four as Army sergeants Simone Ruggia and Claudio Marchesi, and Italian Red Cross Military Corps members Lieutenant Franco Adriano Zecchillo and Sergeant Laura Procacci.
Ruggia and Marchesi were Army sergeants and flight technicians, while Zecchillo was an emergency response technician in the Red Cross Military Corps. Procacci was reported by La Repubblica to be the first woman to reach the rank of sergeant in the corps. Italy said Crosetto would visit the injured in hospitals in Brcko and Tuzla.
- 15 people were on board the CH-47 Chinook when it crashed near Gorice.
- Four people were killed: two Italian Army soldiers and two Italian Red Cross Military Corps members.
- 11 injured people were reported to be in stable condition, with no injuries to civilians.
- The cause of the crash has not been established, and an EUFOR investigation is under way.
Operation Althea and the EUFOR Mission
The helicopter was part of EUFOR’s Operation Althea, the European Union-led military operation in Bosnia. EUFOR has been deployed in Bosnia since 2004, when it took over from a NATO peacekeeping force that had been present since the Bosnian War of 1992 to 1995. The mission, of around 1,200 soldiers, operates under a UN Security Council mandate and oversees the military provisions of the peace agreement that ended the war.
The crash is a rare fatal accident for the long-running mission, which is tasked with maintaining a safe and secure environment in Bosnia and supporting regional stability. The Italian government said all those on board the helicopter were Italian nationals, and the Italian defence ministry and EUFOR are investigating to determine the causes of the accident.
What to Watch Next
Attention now turns to the EUFOR investigation, which is expected to establish what caused the Chinook to come down during its routine training flight. Further verified updates are expected on the condition of the 11 injured personnel, and on the findings of the Italian defence ministry and EUFOR inquiries, as investigators examine the crash site near Gorice and the aircraft’s flight from Italy to Bosnia.