The violence with which the INEM helicopter hit a radio mast on Saturday night, left no chance of anyone surviving the impact and subsequent crash.
A harrowing report by the air accident investigators leaves no doubt that, whether the emergency service go the crash site in good time or not – one of the disputes currently engaging the media – there would have nobody left alive to save.
The preliminary report from the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Prevention and Investigation (GPIAAF) confirms that the aircraft collided with the radio transmission tower with an impact of such violence that anyone onboard was, "unlikely to survive."
Four days after the fateful INEM helicopter crash at Valongo, near Porto, the findings of GPIAAF have been published. Four died due to the violence of the impact: two flight crew, a doctor and a nurse.
The helicopter crashed into the radio mast and then hit the ground, upside down, which left no chance of survival had anyone been alive after the initial impact.
“In addition, the forces of deceleration were well beyond human tolerance and the accident is classified as one of impact without probability of survival," describes the report.
The Agusta A109S helicopter plunged to the ground after hitting the 66 meter-high radio mast, “This infrastructure was licensed and equipped with light beacons at its top. At this stage of the investigation, it is not clear if this beacon was operational at the time of the accident," states the GPIAAF report.
"After the collision of the main rotor blades with the radio mast, the helicopter cabin collided with the tower. Due to the impact, disintegration of the fairings and other panels began, as well as the separation of one of the blades from the main rotor. The dynamics of the accident led to a distribution of debris over an area of more than 24,600 m2.”
The INEM helicopter crashed in the Serra de Pias in the Couce area of Valongo, in poor weather conditions last Saturday night, killing the four people on board.
The helicopter had just transported an elderly woman, suffering from serious heart problems, to the Hospital de Santo António, in Porto.
