Six killed in Italy as rescue helicopter crashes

Six people have been killed in a rescue helicopter crash
 in a mountainous area of central Italy, officials say.

The aircraft came down in thick fog near the Campo Felice
 ski station after picking up an injured skier.

The rescue was not related to last week's avalanche that engulfed a hotel nearby, killing at least 15 people.

Rescue teams reached the wreckage "and they found
 the bodies of the six deceased in the snow", a police spokesman told AP.

The helicopter was taking the injured skier to hospital in L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo province.

Some witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion before
 it crashed.

Gianluca Marrocchi, mayor of the nearby town of Lucoli,
 said he saw the helicopter flying very low. "After that it disappeared in the fog," he told RAI state TV.

Campo Felice is a small skiing resort popular with day
-trip person from Rome, which is 120km (75 miles) to the west.

It is on the other side of Italy's 3,000m Gran Sasso
 mountain range from the four-star Hotel Rigopiano, 
which was engulfed by an avalanche on 18 January
 triggered by a series of earthquakes.

Fourteen people remain unaccounted for there.