Pictured: A SAPS
MBB BO-105CBS-4
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Lonell Swatton
What: South African Police Service MBB-BK 117-B1 Helicopter
Where: Open field about 4km from Witbank, Mpumalanga, South Africa
When: 23-JUL-2010
Who: 7 fatalities
Why: 5 National Intervention Unit police officers, a pilot and a crew member died in a crash whose details are sketchy. The helicopter was one of two that were en route to assist local police in Witbank where armed thieves had just robbed a local supermarket. One helicopter arrived safely and ended up in a gun battle. The other, according to witnesses, exploded in mid-air and crashed.
Paramedics from ER24 were dispatched to an open field where the helicopter was already burned beyond recognition.
A piece of the tail was found 150 meters from the wreckage.