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Iranian Security Forces Kill More Cross-Border Couriers

Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
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Iranian Security Forces Kill More Cross-Border Couriers

Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)

An alarming number of border couriers, primarily from Iran’s Kurdish and Baluchi minorities, have been killed in the first eight months of 2024, as Tehran uses unlawful and lethal force against those who transport goods and fuel across Iranian borders as their only means of survival, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on Thursday.

Headquartered in Washington, CHRI said at least 30 Kurdish border couriers, known as kulbars, were killed and 198 others injured by direct gunfire from Iranian government forces from January to August 2024.

Research undertaken by CHRI also found that six of the injured were children. One of them was 17-year-old Arian Mamandi from Sardasht, who was shot in the face by border guards and lost an eye.

Over the same eight-month period, at least 34 Baluchi fuel couriers, known as sukhtbars, were killed, and 39 others were injured by direct gunfire from government forces, CHRI’s research showed. One of those killed was 14-year-old Omran Baloch Zahi.

“The ongoing killings of border couriers are yet another example of the Islamic Republic’s use of disproportionate and lethal violence against Iran’s oppressed ethnic communities,” said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.

“The Iranian government must immediately halt its unlawful use of lethal force against border couriers and instead focus on developing economic empowerment initiatives. This relentless violence against vulnerable populations must end,” Ghaemi said.

In July, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Supporters of Human Rights (CSHR) called on Iranian authorities under the new president to halt their use of excessive and lethal force at the Iran-Iraq border against predominantly Kurdish kulbars (border couriers), who come from marginalized communities.

“It is shameful that our youth have to engage in kulbari [transporting goods across border] for a piece of bread. We must establish a border that facilitates trade, not kulbari,” said Masoud Pezeshkian, the newly elected president of Iran, during his presidential campaign in Sanandaj in June.

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Tourist Helicopter Crashes into New York's Hudson River, Killing all Six Aboard

Emergency responders on the scene remove a helicopter from the Hudson River after it crashed, in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, 10 April 2025. EPA/SARAH YENESEL
Emergency responders on the scene remove a helicopter from the Hudson River after it crashed, in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, 10 April 2025. EPA/SARAH YENESEL
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Tourist Helicopter Crashes into New York's Hudson River, Killing all Six Aboard

Emergency responders on the scene remove a helicopter from the Hudson River after it crashed, in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, 10 April 2025. EPA/SARAH YENESEL
Emergency responders on the scene remove a helicopter from the Hudson River after it crashed, in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, 10 April 2025. EPA/SARAH YENESEL

A tourist helicopter plummeted upside down into New York City's Hudson River on Thursday killing all six people on board, including a Spanish family with three children and the pilot, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Agustin Escobar, an executive at Germany-based technology company Siemens, was among those killed, according to the New York Times, which cited unnamed law enforcement sources.

New York City police referred requests for confirmation that Escobar was aboard the helicopter to the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard said in a statement that it did not yet have the names of the victims. Siemens did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours, said Reuters.

Video of the crash showed what appeared to be a large object plunging into the river, followed seconds later by what appeared to be a helicopter blade. Afterwards, emergency and police boats were seen circling around a patch of river where the helicopter was submerged, with only what appeared to be the aircraft's landing gear poking above the water's surface.

The Bell 206 chopper, operated by New York Helicopter Tours, departed at about 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT) from a downtown helicopter pad and flew north over the Hudson River, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

It turned south when it reached the George Washington Bridge and crashed minutes later, hitting the water upside down and sinking near Lower Manhattan about 3:15 p.m., just off Hoboken, New Jersey, Tisch added.

Dani Horbiak, a 29-year-old resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, said she witnessed the crash from her window while working from home.

"I looked out my window right here, and I saw the helicopter falling to pieces, and I watched multiple pieces splashed down into the river below, and I was wondering what happened," she told Reuters. "But I'm putting the pieces together... it does sound like I was maybe hearing the propeller smacking into something."

Horbiak said she was "shaken" by the incident and later called emergency services, which said it had already dispatched responders to the scene.

Divers helped remove the victims from the water. Four were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others were taken to area hospitals, where they died.

BIRD'S EYE VIEW

The airspace around Manhattan is crowded with helicopters offering tourists a bird's-eye view of the sights, with at least two dozen operators listed on tour website Viator. Many of the operators also offer helicopter shuttle services to the area airports.

New York Helicopter Tours, which offers sightseeing flights for as little as $114 per person on its website, did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the crash.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the tour helicopter was in a Special Flight Rules Area established in New York, which means no air traffic control services were being provided when it crashed.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB leading the investigation.

Duffy said the FAA was also launching a Safety Review Team on Thursday evening. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and a team from the board will arrive in New York on Thursday and plan to hold a media briefing on Friday.

In 2018, five passengers aboard a helicopter died in New York when the aircraft crashed into the East River, while the pilot survived. The helicopter was on a charter flight that featured an open door to allow passengers to take photographs of the skyline.

A New York City Police spokesperson said police boats had assisted in Thursday's rescue efforts.

Helicopter safety has been a topic of discussion in the US Congress after 67 people were killed the crash of an American Airlines regional jet and Army helicopter on January 29 near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. The FAA has since permanently restricted helicopter traffic near that airport and is reviewing helicopter operations near other major airports.