Helicopter crashes in Sulaimani during rescue mission

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A car fell from a Sulaimani mountain late Thursday, killing the driver. A pilot and his assistant were injured after their helicopter crashed while trying to transport the body on Friday, according to the local traffic police department. A technical issue was blamed for the incident. 

“During the attempt to rescue the driver and passengers of a car that had fallen down in an accident at Mount Haruta, a rescue helicopter experienced a technical malfunction at that time and crashed,” Sulaimani Traffic Police Department said on Facebook. 

The driver was a maintenance staff of telecommunication towers at the peak of the mountain, his relatives told Rudaw. 

The two pilots were transported to hospital and are in stable conditions, the traffic police department noted. 

“The helicopter crashed from a low altitude of 10-12 meters and thankfully the crash did not cause any fires,” a local who volunteered to carry the wounded down the mountain told Rudaw. 

Helicopter crashes are rare in the Kurdistan Region.