An Italian general renowned for commanding peacekeeping missions died in a military helicopter crash north of Rome today that also killed a trainee pilot, emergency services said.
General Giangiacomo Calligaris, 57, who led an army aviation division, perished in the accident along with the 25-year-old flight lieutenant, Paolo Tozzi, according to Italian media.
The AB206 helicopter they were the only occupants in hit high-voltage cables and crashed between the towns of Tuscania and Montalto di Castro.
Calligaris participated in numerous international peacekeeping missions, including heading a parachute brigade in Lebanon.
In the late 1990s, he was part of the NATO-led mission in Kosovo, and went on to coordinate NATO's forces in Afghanistan and Chad, and contributed to the foreign effort helping Haiti after its devastating 2010 earthquake.
