TWO members of the German Armed Forces have been killed and another remains missing after a helicopter crash in Saxony.
The civilian chopper, operated by the Bundeswehr, went down on Tuesday morning near the Golzern gauge station on the Mulde river.
The search for the missing crew member continued overnight, with the German Air Force deploying a Eurofighter equipped with a high-resolution reconnaissance pod to examine the crash site.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed the deaths, describing the crash near the eastern town of Grimma as a tragedy.
Air Force Commander Holger Neumann described the loss as “a dark day for his troops,” noting that the seasoned crew had departed from base at 9 am for what was supposed to be a standard training flight.
According to the Defence Ministry, the helicopter went down during a test flight.
By Tuesday evening, Pistorius reported that approximately 200 emergency personnel were on location, and a military security zone had been set up to facilitate rescue efforts and investigations.
The cause of the deadly crash remains unclear, but German outlet Bild reports that steel cables stretched across the Mulde may have played a role.
The thick supporting cables, part of a cable crane system used to measure water flow at the gauge station, reportedly sag slightly due to their massive weight — one alone weighing around four tons.
Karin Bernhardt, press spokesperson for the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, told Bild: “Both devices must be moved in or on the water to various positions across the entire waterway.
“This is done using a permanently installed cable crane system.”
“This is done using a permanently installed cable crane system.”
A spokesperson for the Air Force declined to confirm whether the cable system was responsible, telling the German outlet: “There is no final report yet from the Bundeswehr’s General Aviation Safety Department.”
Reports on social media suggest the helicopter was flying unusually low before the crash.
One user wrote on the Grimma media portal’s Facebook page: “We saw it flying very low over Pausitz shortly after 10 am, and we wondered why it was so low.”
According to Tag24, the helicopter was even seen flying under a highway bridge on the A14, with construction workers allegedly witnessing the maneuver.
Moments later, it reportedly crashed.
A spokesperson for the Leipzig district fire association told The Brussels Times the helicopter disappeared between 10am and 10.30 am.
Around noon, paddlers spotted debris in the River Mulde, where a significant amount of kerosene had leaked.
The wreckage, stuck in the middle of the river, was “difficult to access,” the spokesperson explained.
Emergency crews worked to contain the spill as rescue operations unfolded.
Around 11.30am, paddlers on the river alerted authorities after discovering wreckage near the Golzern gauge house.
The helicopter’s flight recorder has been recovered but still needs to be analysed before investigators can confirm its altitude at the time of the crash.
Police are urging anyone with information to come forward.
Grimma, the town closest to the crash, lies about 25 kilometres from Leipzig.
It comes after at least three people were killed and three others injured after a train with 100 passengers derailed in south-west Germany.
Meanwhile, a boy was left fighting for his life after a car ploughed into a trampoline before launching into the air and smashing into a barn.
