Medical helicopter crash in southwest Iran kills five
Five people were killed when an emergency medical helicopter crashed in Iran on Monday.
TEHRAN (AFP) - An emergency medical helicopter crashed in a southwestern Iranian village on Monday en route to treat a pregnant mother, killing all five people on board, state TV reported.
"Following the request to save the life of a 26-year old pregnant mother who needed emergency care ... a helicopter was dispatched which unfortunately had an accident," said Pir Hossein Koolivand, who heads Iran s emergency services.
"Three crew members and two first aid workers were martyred", he added.
Koolivand did not elaborate on the cause of the crash.
The crew was dispatched to a mountainous village 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Shahr-e Kord city in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province, emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi told semi-official news agency ILNA.
State news agency IRNA said the helicopter collided with a transmission tower, while state TV said it had crashed into the mountains.
The Zagros mountain range which passes through Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari has been the site of several crashes in recent years.
A private plane crashed in the area early last year killing all eleven passengers, including the daughter of a prominent Turkish businessman and her friends who were returning home from a hen party.
In February 2018 a passenger plane operated by Iran s Aseman Airlines crashed in the Zagros range, killing all 66 people on board.
