Leaders of many countries around the world died or survived in aviation accidents. Most recently, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash.
It was announced that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Emir Abdullahiyan died in a helicopter crash.
From then-Swedish Prime Minister Arvid Lindman in 1936 to former Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in February 2024, 20 heads of state or prime ministers lost their lives in accidents involving aircraft.
On December 9, 1936, then-Swedish Prime Minister Arvid Lindman died when the Douglas DC-2 type plane he was in crashed into houses near Croydon Airport in dense fog just after take-off.
On September 7, 1940, Paraguayan President Marshal Jose Felix Estigarribia died in a plane crash.
On July 4, 1943, Polish soldier and statesman Wladyslaw Sikorski, who led Poland's government in exile during World War II, died when his plane crashed in Gibraltar.
On June 16, 1958, the then Deputy President of Brazil, Nereu Ramos, died when a plane belonging to the Cruzeiro airline crashed.
On March 29, 1959, Barthelemy Boganda, President of the Central African Republic and hero of independence, passed away after his plane crashed.
On September 18, 1961, the plane of the then United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, who was on duty to mediate peace in the Congo, crashed in today's Zambia. 16 people, including Hammarskjold, died in the accident.
On May 14, 1966, Iraqi President General Abdulsalam Arif died in a helicopter crash. Arif came to power through a coup in February 1963.
On April 27, 1969, Bolivian President General Rene Barrientos died when his helicopter crashed in the city of Cochabamba.
On January 18, 1977, former Yugoslavian Prime Minister Dzemal Bjedic's Learjet 25-type plane crashed into Mount Inac near the city of Kresevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bjedic, his wife, and 6 people died in the accident.
On May 27, 1979, the plane carrying Mauritanian Prime Minister Lieutenant Colonel Ahmet Busseyf, who was going to attend the African summit, crashed off the coast of Dakar. Busseyf died in the accident.
On December 4, 1980, Portuguese Prime Minister Françesko Carneiro and Defense Minister Amaro de Costa died when their plane crashed in the capital Lisbon just after takeoff.
On May 24, 1981, Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldos Aguilera and Minister of Defense General Marco Aurelio lost their lives when the plane they were on crashed near the Peruvian border.
On August 1, 1981, Panamanian President Omer Torrijos died when the small plane he was flying crashed into the forest.
On October 19, 1986, a two-engine plane carrying Mozambican President Samora Machel and several Mozambican ministers crashed near the Mozambique-South African border. 33 people died in the accident, including Machel, some ministers, and high-ranking officials of the Mozambican government. In the investigations carried out after the accident, the pilot was found guilty.
On June 1, 1987, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami lost his life as a result of a bomb explosion in the helicopter he was on to go to Beirut. The remote-controlled bomb, weighing approximately 300 grams and placed behind the seat where Karami would ride, was detonated shortly after the plane took off. Only former Prime Minister Karami died in the accident.
On August 17, 1988, a C-130 type military aircraft carrying the then President of Pakistan, General Zia ul Haq, his five generals, and US Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel crashed near Bahawalpur, approximately 530 kilometers south of the capital Islamabad. In the accident in which there were no survivors, investigators focused on the possibility of sabotage.
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Burundi President Cyprian Ntaryamira and Rwandan President Juvenal Habyrimana was fired upon near Kigali Airport. There were no survivors from the plane that crashed in the area where the presidential palace is located.
On February 26, 2004, the plane carrying Boris Trajkovski and his accompanying delegation crashed near the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 8 people, including Trajkovski and his advisors, died in the accident. The international commission established to investigate the plane crash announced in the report shared with the public after two years of research that the plane crash was the result of "pilot error".
On April 10, 2010, the "Tupolev 154" type plane, carrying 96 people, including then-President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, arrived at Russia's Smolensk Airport to attend the ceremony commemorating the Katyn Massacre, in which approximately 22 thousand Poles were executed during the Stalin period. While landing, he fell into the forest area. There were no survivors on the plane.
On February 5, 2024, the helicopter named "Robinson R 66" carrying former Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and his entourage crashed into Ranco Lake in the Los Rios region. Shortly after takeoff, the helicopter crashed into Lake Ranco due to heavy rain and dense fog. Three people managed to jump into the lake and get to the shore by their own means. Former President Pinera died because he could not unfasten his seat belt.
Heads of state who survived plane or helicopter crashes
On April 11, 1955, former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai survived an attack on the Air India plane he had chartered for Indonesia. Zhou, who changed his travel plans at the last minute upon notice, did not board the plane due to a last-minute change. On the other hand, the plane crashed into the South China Sea after the bomb exploded. While 11 passengers lost their lives in the accident, 3 people survived.
On February 17, 1959, Adnan Menderes, the 9th Prime Minister of Turkey, was 4.5 kilometers away from Gatwick Airport in London, where he went to sign the agreement on Cyprus between Turkey, England, and Greece. He survived the plane. In the accident, 14 people, including the then Anadolu Agency (AA) General Manager Şerif Arzık, lost their lives, and 7 people, including the crew and passengers, were injured.
On February 2, 1977, former Queen of Jordan Alia Toukan died in a helicopter crash in the city of Tafila. Toukan's husband, King Hussein bin Talal, survived the accident. Jordanian Minister of Health at the time, Mohammed Bauhir, lost his life in the accident that occurred due to heavy rain and storm.
In June 1994, King Charles III of England, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, lost control of the plane he was flying due to strong winds, causing the plane to crash. Although no one was injured in the incident, more than 1 million dollars of damage occurred.