The Italian authorities paid tribute this Friday to the four military personnel who died in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the crash of a helicopter from the EUFOR Althea operation, the European Union mission in the Balkan country. In parallel, the military Prosecutor's Office in Rome has launched proceedings to clarify what happened.
"Simone, Claudio, Franco Adriano, Laura. Four lives lost in the service of Italy. Today my thoughts are with them and with their loved ones," said the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, in a message on social media after attending a commemorative event in the Circus Maximus in Rome alongside the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto.
"I know that no word can fill such a great void. But being here is a duty. Embracing those who suffer, honoring the memory of those we have lost, accompanying the injured and their loved ones in these difficult moments," she stated, also encouraging citizens to leave flowers at the site of the tribute to the victims of the accident, in which eleven other military personnel were injured.
In parallel, the military Prosecutor's Office based in Rome has initiated a formal investigation to analyze the circumstances of the accident, with no further details having been released for now, except that the procedure will be led by prosecutor Marco De Paolis.
Just after the ceremony in the Italian capital ended, Crosetto traveled to Bosnia with the aim of "pay tribute to the fallen" and "be close to the injured military personnel". He stressed that he will personally check "their conditions" in the deployment and that he intends to "bring them the tangible closeness and affection of all of Defense and of the country".
"I would like to be able to find the right words, to be able to give an answer, to be able to ease at least a little the pain of those who are living through these terrible hours," he explained before leaving, to add that in situations like this "words are not enough" but rather "being there".