Pope Benedict XVI's Agusta Bell helicopter has been grounded "as a precautionary measure" because eight Italian soldiers were killed when a closely related helicopter crashed in countryside near Strasbourg in France last month.

A preliminary investigation into the French accident showed that one of the blades on the main rotor of the HH-3F Agusta Bell helicopter may have snapped while the aircraft was flying from Dijon to Florennes to take part in a military exercise. All 35 of the Italian airforce's HH-3F helicopters were grounded following the accident.

However the SH-3D helicopter, the model used by the Vatican, has also been grounded as a precaution because it has the same type of rotor. The Pope's helicopter is supplied to the Vatican by the Italian air force and is used when the Pope travels within Italy - for example when he flies between the Vatican and his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills south of Rome.