Helicopter downed as 12 killed in Rio violence

BRAZIL: Drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, killing two officers, and 10 suspected gang members were killed in the city’s worst recent outbreak of violence, police said.

The violence, in which authorities said 8 buses were set on fire by suspected traffickers and 6 police officers wounded, came only two weeks after the Brazilian city was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games despite worries over high levels of violence.

Despite being wounded, the pilot managed to land the aircraft on a football pitch but it then exploded in flames, killing two officers and wounding the other four crew members, including the pilot, one of them gravely.

Reuters