Two Italian Air Force pilots have died on Tuesday after their planes collided in flight during maneuvers. The event occurred in the town of Guidonia, in the province of Rome. The remains of the plane have fallen in the center of the municipality but have not caused human damage to third parties.
The deceased soldiers are the pilots of the Italian army, Colonel Giuseppe Cipriano and Major Marco Meneghello, both with experience in flight and experts in maneuvers, according to the General of Aeronautics Silvano Frigerio.
The Tivoli Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating what happened, has expressed in a statement that according to the first reconstruction, the objective of the maneuver of the two pilots was to "avoid the least possible damage to people and objects", an objective that it finally achieved. "Otherwise, the fall on the buildings and on the streets would have caused numerous victims," predicted the prosecutor, Francesco Menditto.
After the impact, one of the parts of the plane fell on a car in the center of the town without causing any personal damage, and the other of the planes fell on an esplanade a few kilometers from the Guidonia military airport.
According to a witness who witnessed the accident in statements to the RomaToday website, there were four planes that were doing maneuvers and one lost its rear wing and began to spin on itself until it crashed, caught fire and had to hit the other that I was close.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has expressed her condolences: "The news of the death of the two Aeronautics pilots in the Guidonia plane crash, near Rome, fills us with sadness. On behalf of the Government, I express my deepest condolences and my closeness to the families, colleagues from the 60th company and the entire body of the Air Force. We pray for them".
