TEHRAN: Iranian media has declared President Ebrahim Raisi dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region. The crash on Sunday brought many similar incidents under the spotlight in which several Presidents, Prime Miniter and top officials lost their lives.
On December 9, 1936, then-Swedish Prime Minister Arvid Lindman died when the Douglas DC-2 plane he was in crashed into houses near Croydon Airport in dense fog shortly after take-off.
On July 4, 1943, Polish statesman Wladyslaw Sikorski, leader of Poland’s government in exile during World War II, died when his plane crashed in Gibraltar.
On September 18, 1961, the aircraft of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, who was on a mission to mediate peace in the Congo, crashed in what is now Zambia, killing Hammarskjold and 15 others people.
On October 19, 1986, a twin-engine plane carrying Mozambican President Samora Machel and several ministers crashed near the Mozambique-South African border, killing 33 people, including Machel and other high-ranking officials.
On August 17, 1988, an aircraft carrying Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq crashed near Bahawalpur, about 530 kilometres south of Islamabad, with no survivors.
On February 5, 2024, a Robinson R-66 helicopter carrying former Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and his entourage crashed into the Lake Ranco in the Los Rios region. The helicopter went down shortly after take-off due to heavy rain and dense fog. Three people managed to jump into the lake and reach the shore, but Pinera died because he could not unfasten his seatbelt.
