A helicopter flying from Italy's Tremiti islands to the mainland crashed today about 50km from the city of Foggia, in the southern-east region of Apulia, with seven people were feared dead in the accident.
A spokeswoman for the police's office in Foggia said that weather conditions were bad but added that the cause of the accident was still unknown.
Police were working to reach the site, the spokesperson said, adding that the nationalities of the victims were not clear at the moment.
Four tourists coming from Slovenia were among the victims, several Italian newspapers reported.
The mayor of the islands, Peppino Calabrese, told media that the doctor decided at the last minute to take the helicopter rather than the ferry "because of the bad conditions at sea".
"Our community is in shock. Nothing like this has happened in 30 years of service," he said.
The president of Apulia, who was attending a rally in Rome to call for peace in Ukraine, said in a post on Facebook that he had left the event to go to Foggia.
"On board the helicopter were seven people who all lost their lives. It is a terrible moment that leaves us dismayed," Michele Emiliano said on Facebook.
