By Ken Afor
The recent helicopter crash involving Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials on Sunday, May 19, 2024, has drawn attention to previous incidents where heads of state or top government officials either survived or tragically lost their lives.
Incidents where leaders lost their lives include the 1936 crash that killed Swedish Prime Minister Arvid Lindman, the 1940 plane crash resulting in the death of Paraguayan President , Jose Felix Estigarribia, and the 1943 Gibraltar plane crash that claimed the life of Polish leader, Wladyslaw Sikorski.
Other examples are the 1958 crash that killed Brazil’s interim president, Nereu Ramos, the 1959 accident that killed Central African Republic’s president Barthelemy Boganda, and the 1961 crash that resulted in the death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in present-day Zambia.
Iraqi President Abdul Salam Arif died in a 1966 helicopter crash, while Bolivian President Rene Barrientos lost his life in a 1969 helicopter accident. The 1977 plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina killed Yugoslavian PM Dzemal Bijedic. Mauritanian PM Ahmed Ould Bouceif died in a 1979 plane crash, and a 1980 Portuguese aircraft accident claimed the lives of PM Francisco Sa Carneiro and Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa.
Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldos Aguilera and his defense minister died in a 1981 plane crash near Peru. That same year, Panamanian President Omar Torrijos passed away in a plane accident. In 1986, a plane crash near the Mozambique-South Africa border killed Mozambican President Samora Machel and several ministers. The 1988 C-130 crash in Pakistan killed President Zia-ul-Haq, American ambassador Arnold Raphel, and several generals, with suspected sabotage.
The 1994 missile attack on a plane carrying the presidents of Burundi and Rwanda near Kigali resulted in no survivors. In 2004, a plane crash in Bosnia killed Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and his advisors, attributed to pilot error. The 2010 Smolensk air disaster tragically claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and many others.
More recently, in 2024, former Chilean President Sebastian Pinera died after his helicopter crashed into a lake, unable to unfasten his seatbelt.
There were also some narrow escapes, such as when Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai changed plans in 1955, avoiding a sabotaged plane that crashed. In 1959, Turkish PM Adnan Menderes survived a London plane crash that killed 14 others. Jordan’s King Hussein survived a 1977 helicopter accident that killed his wife. In 1994, Britain’s Prince Charles crashed a plane he was piloting but emerged unharmed.
While air travel risks cannot be fully eliminated for national leaders, these incidents underscore the importance of stringent safety protocols to prevent such tragic loss of life.
