The aerial interventions of SMURD teams were stopped both in Moldova and in Romania. Press officer of the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service Diana Turcan has told IPN that such a decision was taken immediately after the helicopter crash in southern Moldova, where a SMURD team died.

The interventions were halted for an indefinite period of time. A decision to this effect will be taken after the commission of inquiry completes the investigation into the crash.

According to the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service, the first SMURD (emergency rescue service based in Romania) operations in Moldova were carried out last autumn. Since then, the SMURD teams had been involved in 19 interventions within which they helped people with different traumas and diagnoses.

On June 2, a SMURD helicopter with four crew members on board crashed near Haragas village of Cantemir district. As a result of the accident, the pilot, copilot, doctor and medical assistant, who were all Romanian citizens, were killed. The team was traveling to Cahul to pick up a patient.