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Military helicopters collide over northern Israel
Dozens of Israeli soldiers killed
February 4, 1997
Web posted at: 2:45 p.m. EST (1945 GMT)JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Two Israeli air force helicopters collided Tuesday night during a driving sleet and rain in northern Israel, the Israeli army said.
Israeli military officials said as many as 70 soldiers were killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "a grave disaster."
At least one of the helicopters was believed to have fallen on a residential area at the Shaar Yeshuv moshav, a communal settlement in the eastern Galilee.
The army closed roads around the settlement, Israel television said, and dispatched dozens of rescue workers to the scene. Footage shown on Channel Two television showed bodies being carried from the crash site.
Israeli radios broadcast somber music, as they traditionally do when soldiers have been killed.
Further details of the crash were under military censorship.
Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers contributed to this report.
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