Erfurt (dpa/th) - Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier has complained about a lack of helicopters for disasters, especially in eastern Germany. "Civil protection must be improved," said the SPD politician to the editorial network Germany (RND/Saturday). "The helicopters, for example, are stationed almost entirely in the west and are often not even able to rescue people from the air. Something has to change. We need at least one helicopter in central Germany that can be used in civil protection." Civil protection will be a topic at the conference of interior ministers, which starts on June 1st.