I think I've run into italy.mat beore without any problems, but I can't be certain. I'm just judging from the pictures as it loads.
In any case, I tried sending a Firebird from a different base (and hence with a different crew), to see if that mattered. It didn't. The server crashed and kicked me to geoscapes page. Automission reported I lost the mission with no casualties.
I have a save file at
http://phiwumbda.org/~jesse/slot3.savx, if that helps. As it is, I'm skipping that mission. Poor Tibetans, suffering from unstoppable terror! Sob!