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Israeli hurt by mine falls to death from chopper

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-13 10:53

JERUSALEM -- Authorities say an Israeli hiker who was rescued from a minefield fell to his death from an army helicopter that was evacuating him.

In this image taken from Israel's Channel 10 television, an injured hiker falls to this death from an Israeli military helicopter sent to rescue him from a minefield he accidentally stepped into in northern Israel, Wednesday, March 11, 2009. [Agencies]

The 24-year-old man from an Arab village in northern Israel was hiking with some friends Wednesday when he inadvertently stumbled into a minefield left over from one of Israel's wars and stepped on a mine.

The military sent a helicopter to airlift the seriously injured man to a hospital. But as rescuers were hoisting him into the aircraft at the end of a rope, he fell 60 feet (20 meters) back into the minefield and died on impact.

Video footage of the incident was shown on Israeli TV.