Iran’s President Raisi and FM Amir Abdollahian be part of lengthy record of world leaders killed in aircraft crashes
LONDON: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was pronounced lifeless on Monday after a search and rescue workforce discovered his helicopter that crashed within the mountains of northern Iran, close to the border with Azerbaijan.
Killed alongside Raisi have been Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and 7 different individuals, together with crew members, bodyguards, and political and non secular figures.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has appointed Vice President Mohammad Mokbel to an interim position forward of elections in 50 days. Ali Bagheri, the nation’s former high nuclear negotiator, was appointed appearing international minister.
Iranian authorities first raised the alarm Sunday afternoon after they misplaced contact with Raisi’s helicopter. (AP/Moj News Agency)
Raisi had earlier met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on their shared border to launch the dam undertaking.
On the best way again, solely two of the three helicopters in his convoy landed within the metropolis of Tabriz, and a large search and rescue operation was launched, with a number of international governments quickly providing help.
As the solar rose on Monday, rescuers found the destroyed Bell 212 helicopter (a civilian model of the UH-1N “Twin Huey” that was common throughout the Vietnam War), however not one of the 9 individuals on board have been discovered. It was introduced that there have been no survivors.
State tv station IRIB reported that the helicopter “slammed right into a mountain and collapsed” as a result of affect.
Analysts have highlighted considerations in regards to the security of Iran’s civilian and navy plane, a lot of that are in poor restore after a long time of U.S. sanctions have disadvantaged the nation of recent fashions and spare elements. is in a state of
Western analysts say Iran has used a mix of smuggled elements and reverse engineering to maintain its civil and navy air fleets flying throughout its isolation since its 1979 revolution.
“Spare elements positively would have been a problem for the Iranians,” retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton informed CNN.
State tv station IRIB reported that the helicopter “slammed into the mountain and collapsed” as a result of affect. (Reuters/West Asia News Agency)
“I believe on this specific case, along with the sanctions, this spare elements got here collectively due to the climate, which has been very unhealthy on this specific area of northwest Iran for the previous few days.
“I believe all of that contributed to a sequence of occasions and a sequence of selections that the pilots, and maybe even the president himself, made in flying this plane… and sadly for them, the result’s this crash. .”
Sunday’s incident is simply the newest in an extended historical past of aviation disasters which have claimed the lives of world leaders because the daybreak of aviation.
One of the primary sitting leaders or heads of state to die in an air crash was Swedish Prime Minister Arvid Lindmann, whose Douglas DC-2 crashed right into a home because it tried to take off in a thick aircraft in Croydon, south of London. There was a collision. The fog of December 9, 1936.
As the age of aviation started within the interwar interval, increasingly leaders took to the skies on diplomatic visits and have been based mostly within the extra distant corners of their territories.
On September 7, 1940, President José Félix Estigarribia of Paraguay died in a aircraft crash only one 12 months after taking workplace, adopted in 1943 by Polish Prime Minister-in-exile, Władysław Sikorski, in a B24C Liberator crash. He handed away on July 4th. After taking off from Gibraltar, we headed straight to the Mediterranean.
After World War II, aviation expertise and security superior quickly as increasingly nations started to determine their very own air forces and personal service provider navies, however technical flaws, unhealthy climate, and fraud typically led to fatalities. continued to be stolen.
Government officers have been discovered lifeless on the scene of a helicopter crash on Monday after hours of search operations in foggy mountainous terrain. (AP/Moj News Agency)
On March 17, 1957, Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay was killed when his aircraft crashed into Mount Manunggal on the island of Cebu. A 12 months later, on June 16, Brazil’s interim president Nereu Ramos was killed in a Cruzeiro aircraft crash close to Curitiba’s Afonso Pena International Airport.
Aviation disasters are additionally occurring often in Africa. On March 29, 1959, Central African Republic President Barthelemy Boganda was killed when his Atlas flying boxcar exploded in mid-air over Bangui.
And in 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, the Swedish economist and diplomat who served because the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, died on September 18 when his Douglas DC-6B crashed within the Zambian jungle.
In the Nineteen Sixties, helicopter flights in battle zones, search and rescue operations turned extensively adopted, and have become an environment friendly manner for politicians, diplomats, and enterprise leaders to journey and land in areas with out airstrips. It has turn into an more and more common methodology.
Sunday’s incident is simply the newest in an extended historical past of aviation disasters which have claimed the lives of world leaders because the daybreak of aviation. (AFP)
However, like fixed-wing plane, helicopters are usually not proof against climate, obstacles, human error, sabotage, and terrorism.
One of the primary world leaders to die in a helicopter crash was Iraqi President Abdul Salam Arif, who reportedly died on April 13, 1966, when his aircraft was caught in a thunderstorm.
Similar incidents continued with the dying of Bolivian President Rene Barrientos in a helicopter crash in Arque on April 27, 1969, and the crash of Malagasy Prime Minister Joel Rakoto-Malala on July 30, 1976.
On January 18, 1977, Yugoslav Prime Minister Djemal Bjedić was killed when his Gates Learjet crashed right into a mountain throughout a snowstorm attributable to unhealthy climate.
Weather circumstances have been additionally blamed when Ecuador’s President Jaime Roldos Aguilera’s Buna-built Super King Air 200 FAE-723 crashed on 24 May 1981, and when Mozambique’s President Samora Machel’s Tupolev 134A crashed whereas trying to land in Maputo throughout a storm on 19 October 1986.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdullahian. (AFP)
As the skies turned extra crowded, the potential for accidents elevated. On July 18, 1967, Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, the primary president of Brazil’s navy dictatorship after the 1964 coup, was killed in a mid-air collision with a Piper PA-23 plane close to Fortaleza.
On May 27, 1979, Mauritanian Prime Minister Ahmed Ould Bouseif died in a aircraft crash off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, and Francisco Sá Carneiro, who served as Portugal’s Prime Minister for less than 11 months, additionally died on December 4, 1980.
However, not all crashes might be blamed on climate or pilot error. In some instances, plane have been intentionally focused as a way to kill high-profile passengers.
Panamanian chief General Omar Torrijos was killed on July 31, 1981 when a Panamanian Air Force aircraft crashed beneath suspicious circumstances.
On June 1, 1987, Lebanese politician Rashid Karami, who had served as prime minister eight occasions, was killed when a bomb exploded in his helicopter shortly after takeoff from Beirut.
In one significantly devastating incident, a Dassault Falcon 50 9XR-NN was shot down on strategy to Kigali airport in Rwanda on 6 April 1994, killing each Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira.
Iranians will observe 5 days of mourning for the victims of the helicopter crash. (Reuters/West Asia News Agency)
Multiple investigations have been performed into the air crash that killed Pakistani General Zia Ul-Haq on August 17, 1988, however no ample trigger has been discovered, resulting in many theories of assassination.
A Pakistan Air Force Lockheed C-130B crashed shortly after take-off from Bahawalpur. Investigators say the aircraft plummeted out of the sky and smashed into items, scattering particles over a large space.
Despite vital enhancements in aviation security, disasters proceed to happen into the brand new millennium.
On February 26, 2004, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski died when his Beechcraft Super King Air 200 Z3-BAB crashed whereas trying to land in Mostar in unhealthy climate.
A person lights a candle to specific his condolences in entrance of the Iranian embassy in Baghdad. (Reuters)
John Garang, chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and briefly the primary vp of Sudan, died on July 30, 2005, when his helicopter crashed right into a mountain vary within the nation’s south throughout unhealthy climate.
Muhammadu Maksid, the Sultan of Sokoto in Nigeria, died alongside together with his son when ADC Flight 53 crashed on October 29, 2006, and Polish President Lech Kaczynski died on April 10, 2010. Tupolev Flight 154 crashed within the fog and died. As we approached Smolensk Airport in western Russia.
In the newest incident, earlier than Raisi’s dying, the deceased was truly within the cockpit when the aircraft went into hassle. Former Chilean president Sebastian Pinilla died on February 6 this 12 months when the Robinson R44 helicopter he was piloting crashed nose-first into Lake Ranco.
An Iranian lady holds a poster of President Ebrahim Raisi throughout a memorial service in Tehran, Iran. (AP)
While this record of deaths could give world leaders a second to assume earlier than boarding the presidential aircraft for his or her subsequent diplomatic journey, trendy air journey is statistically It is nicely value remembering that it’s many occasions safer than
However, there isn’t any doubt that an skilled pilot, an plane in good situation, a transparent climate forecast, and a flight plan shrouded in secrecy improve the possibilities of a protected arrival.
