Italian alps crash: Pilot 'investigated for manslaughter' after plane and helicopter collision leaves seven dead

Rescue workers at the crash site
AP
Jacob Jarvis26 January 2019

A prosecutor is investigating a flight instructor who was in the back of a plane which fatally collided with a helicopter over the Italian alps.

The man survived the midair collision on Friday and has been questioned over the incident.

This comes as authorities said the bodies of the last two people from the crash in Italy's Val d'Aosta region were found on Saturday, raising the death toll to seven.

The French flight instructor was one of two survivors of the accident over the Rutor glacier.

Wreckage left in the snow following the collision
AP

Italian news agency ANSA quoted Aosta Chief Prosecutor Paolo Fortuna saying he was investigating the instructor for alleged manslaughter.

He has been questioned him in a hospital intensive care unit.

ANSA says the instructor was reportedly sitting in the rear of the plane and his students were in front.

The students, a Belgian man and a Frenchman, died.

The helicopter involved was bringing skiers to the glacier.

The Rutor glacier covers nine square kilometres, 3.5 square miles, and is the second-largest in the Val d'Aosta region, which borders

Rescue workers said the crash happened at an altitude of around 3,000 metres.

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