Home | Breaking News | International | Local | Weather | Archive
12.3
SPECTACULAR ACCIDENT
120
READING
1
Describe the photo. What do you think is happening?
2
a
Read the newspaper report quickly. Then, without
looking back at the text, put the events below in the
correct order.
a
The helicopter suddenly started to descend.
b
The helicopter landed in the forest.
c
A helicopter pilot went on a training flight with his
student.
d
The helicopter started shaking and smoke came out
of the back.
e
The pilot and his student were taken away on
stretchers.
f
Rescuers freed the pilot and student.
Helicopter makes crash
landing in Swedish forest
Eyewitness News
Norrland, Sweden:
A helicopter made an emergency
landing in the forests of Norrland in Sweden on
Wednesday. The incident happened just before noon
near the town of Vilhelmina. Sweden has seen its fair
share of aviation accents in recent years but fortunately
nobody was seriously injured this time.
According to investigators, the pilot, 34-year-old Lucas
Andersson, and his student, 24-year-old Theo Nilsson,
were on their way back to Vilhelmina Airport when their
Robinson R22 helicopter lost power at approximately
200 metres.
‘It was a standard training flight,’ said Hugo Larsson, of
the Aviation Academy. ‘They were coming back from the
practice area after a successful training flight.’
Residents in the area were shocked to see the helicopter
descending so quickly.
‘All of a sudden it just fell out of the sky,’ said Elsa
Johansson.
However, the pilot was able to miss all the trees and
over-hanging branches on the way down.
‘That student has to stay with his instructor,’ said area
resident Viktor Persson. ‘The guy did an amazing job. If
he hadn’t avoided all those trees, they would have died.’
Julia Karlsson of the Emergency Services told reporters
that bystanders had jumped in to rescue the pilot and
his student. One of them was Nils Svensson, a local tour
guide who was with a group of tourists in the forest.
‘I just ran straight towards them,’ he said, describing how
he arrived at the helicopter. ‘They were both strapped
into their seats in the front of the aircraft and we had to
use a knife to cut them free.’
Investigators are now turning their attention to the
cause of the crash and they are appealing to witnesses to
come forward. Freja Hansson watched as the helicopter
‘plopped down’ into the forest.
‘I saw it as it was coming in, and it looked pretty normal.
It didn’t look like it was shaking or anything,’ Hansson said.
However, she says that as it got closer she saw smoke
coming out of the back of the helicopter and it started
shaking a little.
‘It was crazy,’ she said. ‘When you go on holiday, you
never think that you’re going to see something like that.’
Arvid Bengtsson watched as the pilot and his student
were carried away. ‘People were very calm,’ he said. ‘I
think it was probably caused by a mechanical problem,
but you can never rule out human error.’
This was the second major crash involving a helicopter in
Sweden this year.
2
b
Good journalists try to answer the following
questions when writing a news report:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Find the answer to these questions in the report.
2
c
Looking at genre
The following language features
are often found in newspaper reports: present perfect,
reported speech, direct speech. Find examples of these
features in the report.
3
Work with a partner to discuss these questions.
1
Have there been any spectacular accidents in
Bahrain?
2
Do you think it is wrong when films and the media
glamorise spectacular accidents?
search
