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)
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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.



Rescue Teams Search for Missing in Bosnia’s Floods

A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP)
A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP)
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Rescue Teams Search for Missing in Bosnia’s Floods

A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP)
A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP)

Rescuers dug through rubble in the village of Donja Jablanica on Saturday morning in search for people who went missing in Bosnia's deadliest floods in years that hit the Balkan country on Friday.

The N1 TV reported that 21 people died and that dozens went missing in the Jablanica area, 70 kilometers (43.5 miles)southwest of Sarajevo.

The government is due to hold a press conference later.

"There are some villages in the area that still cannot be reached, and we don't know what we will find there," said a spokesperson for the Mountain Rescue Service whose teams are involved in search.

Heavy rain overnight halted search, Bosnian media reported, but as it stopped the search continued. In Donja Jablanica many houses were still under rubble.

Nezima Begovic, 62, was lucky. Her house is damaged, but she came out unhurt.

"I heard people screaming and suddenly it was all quiet. Then I said everyone is dead there," she told Reuters.

Due to flash flooding on Friday a quarry above Donja Jablanica collapsed and rubble poured over houses and cars in the village.

Enes Imamovic, 66, said he was woken by loud noises at around 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Friday.

"Everything was white (from the stones and dust that came down from the quarry), My friends' house was gone. I heard screams," Imamovic told Reuters.

The Bosnian Football Association (NFSBIH) has postponed all matches due to floods.

Bosnia's election commission decided to postpone local elections this weekend in municipalities affected by floods, but to carry on with voting elsewhere.

The floods follow an unprecedented summer drought which caused many rivers and lakes to dry up, and affected agriculture and the supply of water to urban areas throughout the Balkans and much of Europe.

Meteorologists said extreme weather changes can be attributed to climate change.