TIRANA, April 11- Authorities have opened an investigation into last week’s military helicopter crash in Shkodra Lake that resulted in the death of two army pilots.
The probe has been launched by the prosecution office on suspicions that flight rules might have been violated or that the movement of military troops was not authorized.
However, the army maintains that the helicopter had left base as part of a training mission and was within its planned trajectory before the fatal accident.
The helicopter’s debris was pulled from the lake last weekend, while the cause of the crash remains unclear. The location of the helicopter’s black box and the memory card of the camera are expected to provide crucial clues and help determine the possible cause of the crash.
Currently, prosecutors are considering the possibility of having it sent to Germany for decoding.
Experts from the helicopter’s manufacturer Eurocopter have also been called in to help with the probe. The latter have examined the site of the crash, helicopter parts recovered from the lake and also data collected by the army.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense has ordered an administrative investigation regarding the tragic accident that claimed the lives of the helicopter’s two pilots.
The military helicopter crashed on Wednesday at Shkodra Lake in northern Albania killing the two pilots on board, while a third soldier remained injured in the incident.
The EC 145 helicopter was purchased in France as part of a deal between the Albanian government and its manufacturer Eurocopter and had been in service for only six months.
The company has urged Albanian authorities to not use a second EC 145 helicopter purchased until the cause of the crash has been established.
