5 Killed in Helicopter Crash in Iran

An emergency and rescue helicopter searches for a plane that crashed in a mountainous area of central Iran, February 19, 2018. (AP)
An emergency and rescue helicopter searches for a plane that crashed in a mountainous area of central Iran, February 19, 2018. (AP)
TT

5 Killed in Helicopter Crash in Iran

An emergency and rescue helicopter searches for a plane that crashed in a mountainous area of central Iran, February 19, 2018. (AP)
An emergency and rescue helicopter searches for a plane that crashed in a mountainous area of central Iran, February 19, 2018. (AP)

Five people were killed when a rescue helicopter crashed into a utility pole in Iran’s western province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, reported state television.

The aircraft was trying to airlift a pregnant woman, but did not make it to her location on Monday, it said.

Pirhossein Koulivand, head of the country's emergency medical services, told the TV three of the five aboard were flight crew and two were rescue workers.

Iranian aircraft crashes have been blamed on its old fleet and years of international sanctions over the country's nuclear program.

In 2016, a helicopter belonged to the oil company crashed in the Caspian Sea, killing five onboard. In 2015, four died in a crash of a helicopter transferring an injured oil staffer to hospital from an offshore oil platform.

Last year, 66 passengers on board an Iranian domestic flight were killed when their aircraft crashed into the Zagros Mountains.

In January, an Iranian Boeing 707 cargo plane coming from Kyrgyzstan crashed while trying to land west of Iran's capital. Only one person of the 16 on board survived.



Eleven Dead in Indian Capital after Heavy Rain, Flight Operations Stutter

A man walks along a road amid heavy rainfall in New Delhi on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
A man walks along a road amid heavy rainfall in New Delhi on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Eleven Dead in Indian Capital after Heavy Rain, Flight Operations Stutter

A man walks along a road amid heavy rainfall in New Delhi on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
A man walks along a road amid heavy rainfall in New Delhi on June 29, 2024. (AFP)

The death toll from this week's sudden heavy rain has climbed to 11 in New Delhi, including four citizens who drowned in submerged underpasses, the Times of India reported, while flight operations stuttered in the Indian capital.

New Delhi, which endured one of its worst heatwaves in history earlier this month, faced the biggest downpour in decades on June 28, with rainfall in a single day surpassing the city's average for the entire month.

The torrential rain caused a fatal roof collapse at one of the three terminals of Delhi's main airport, disrupted flights, flooded underpasses, and led to massive traffic jams, power and water outages in parts of the city.

Nearly 60 flights were cancelled from New Delhi's main airport in the last 24 hours, according to data from flight tracking platform Flightaware.

Operations were largely normal on Sunday, with most flights from the affected terminal diverted to the other two, an airport official said but did not rule out possible flight cancellations in the course of the day.

The Delhi airport is one of the country's biggest and busiest.

Terminal 1, the now-closed terminal, is mostly used by low-cost carriers IndiGo, operated by Interglobe Aviation, and SpiceJet, and currently has a capacity to handle 40 million passengers annually.

An Indigo spokesperson did not comment on the flight cancellations and a SpiceJet spokesperson did not immediately respond to a phone call.