PICS: Military helicopter crashes in Centurion

A helicopter from the South African military crashed near the R101 next to the Zwartkop Golf Estate in Centurion on Thursday, emergency services personnel confirmed.

Xander Loubser of Best Care Ambulance confirmed that two people from the military had been seriously injured.

They were airlifted to Netcare Unitas Hospital in Centurion, Loubser confirmed.

“Paramedics on the scene are busy attending to patients. The exact cause of the crash is unclear at this stage,” he added.

The fire brigade was on the scene, which had been declared safe, but motorists were advised to avoid the area, Loubser further stated.

Rescue Care spokesperson Garrith Jamieson said Emer-G-Med Paramedics responded to the call and found two patients had sustained serious injuries.

“They were stabilised on the scene by Advanced Life Support Paramedics before being flown to nearby hospitals for the urgent care that they required. The scene was cornered off after the injured were transported for further investigation,” he said.

South African National Defence Force spokesperson Simphiwe Dlamini confirmed the accident, saying it was one of the SANDF’s utility helicopters, an Agusta A109.

He, however, denied there were injuries.

“Fortunately, there were no injuries but our members were taken to our medical facility to be examined,” he said.

Dlamini did not want to speculate on the cause of the accident, but said there were investigators on the scene on Friday afternoon to investigate.

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