Helicopter crash in Italy kills Egyptian pilot and his only passenger, a Dutch top banker

A helicopter crash in Bondeno, Italy, has led to a search for two missing individuals, one of Dutch nationality and one Egyptian. The Bell 206 helicopter, which had departed from Ozzano (Bologna) en route to Padua, crashed into a drainage canal connecting the Reno and Po rivers. Witnesses heard an explosion and saw the helicopter’s rear part falling into the canal, along with debris and clothing on the water’s surface.

The Italian Flight Safety Agency (ANSV) has initiated a safety investigation into the incident involving the Bell 206B JetRanger III helicopter with San Marino registration T7-HZM. Search and rescue efforts, involving 118 medical personnel, local police, the Bologna fire brigade’s diving unit, and the Carabinieri, are still underway at the date of writing. The accident occurred on October 10, and ANSV investigators have been dispatched to the scene, coordinating with the judicial authorities and firefighters.

This week, the body of 62-year-old top banker Philip Ter Woort was recovered and identified by family who travelled from the Netherlands to Italy. Ter Woort has worked for Rabobank, ABN AMRO and ING Bank, among others. His last employer was the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The pilot, the 73-year-old Italian-Egyptian entrepreneur Hazem Bayumi, is still being searched for. Not all the wreckage of the helicopter has yet been found.