The SMURD chopper crashed in Moldova wasn’t equipped with weather radar, being the only functional chopper without such a device, another SMURD helicopter in the same situation is the one brought in Romania on the insurance of Sutghiol accident,but it is not functional yet, according to Mediafax.

EC-135 type chopper with the registration number 347, crashed in Moldova, was not equipped with weather radar, being the only one without such a device SMURD used, have declared the officials from General Inspectorate of Romanian Aviation (IGAV).

The same source mentions that there is another chopper without weather radar, "the one received almost two weeks ago, on the insurance of Sutghiol", but this one is not functional yet, being in "registration procedures".

Representatives of Minister of Internal Affairs mentioned on Thursday that the flying apparatus was used on missions in Republic of Moldova, following an agreement signed between Romania and Moldova in 2014 and that it did 12 flights of this kind in Moldova.

"The chopper crashed near the woods in Cantemir district, near Haragis village. Experts yet have to establish the causes for the accident, but the most credible supposition is that the crash happened because of bad weather" has declared the counsellor of Minister of Health from Moldova, Dragos Galbur for MEDIAFAX.

On Thursday, at the place of accident, a yellow warning of heavy hail storms was in force. According to witnesses, heavy shower was falling in the area when the pilot lost the control over the chopper.

When asked about equipping the chopper with weather radar, Raed Arafat has declared: "in this case, the Aviation specialists have to answer. It was authorized for flying, with one pilot. If the pilot assesses that the weather is bad, he is the one who decides regarding the mission".

The weather radar is the device helping the pilot in seeing what types of clouds are in the area, are declaring the specialists contacted by MEDIAFAX.

"The weather radar catches the clouds shapes and pilot can see the area with storms on his path. Thus you can avoid the area, it helps you to not enter the affected area. Weather radar doesn’t help seeing the earth, it does not show how close you are to the earth, it sees only the clouds. The only device that tells you about how close you are to earth is a special device working with GPS. I don’t think that this chopper had this kind of GPS with all the functions, had probably only orienting ones" has declared the pilot Valentin Ialomiteanu for MEDIAFAX.

The SMURD chopper crashed in a forested area near Haragis village, Cantemir district. The squad members were heading towards Cahul to save a man with cerebral vascular accident.