Rescue helicopter crashes during recovery on Sulaymaniyah’s Mount Hawruta

SULAYMANIYAH — A rescue helicopter crashed Friday while attempting to recover the body of a driver whose car had fallen from Mount Hawruta, the Sulaymaniyah Traffic Directorate said.

“In the middle of efforts to rescue the driver of a car that had fallen down Mount Hawruta, a rescue helicopter suffered a technical failure and crashed,” the directorate said in a statement.

Emergency teams recovered the victim’s body and transferred it to forensic medicine. “Both pilots were transferred to Shar Hospital. One of them, Brig. Hussein Fayzullah, is in stable condition and under treatment,” the statement said, thanking citizens and agencies who assisted.

Rescue teams said the incident began Thursday night when a car plunged from the mountain, killing its driver, a Peshmerga member. His body was located Friday, prompting the helicopter recovery mission. During the operation, one of the aircraft’s propellers struck the mountain, causing it to crash.