A helicopter carrying Iran’s sports minister crashed on Thursday in the country’s south, killing one of his aides and injuring him as well as 15 other people, state media reported.
The minister, Hamid Sajjadi, suffered a head injury in the accident which occurred when the helicopter was landing at a stadium in Baft, a town in Kerman province, the official IRNA news agency said.
His adviser, Esmail Ahmadi, died and another 16 people including the minister, four crew members and other officials were injured, IRNA added, citing the Red Crescent.
“The minister has a brain haemorrhage, but his general condition is stable,” Mohammad Saberi, the head of the Red Crescent in the province, said on television.
“The Red Crescent helicopter which rush to their rescue, reportedly took a quick landing hitting the ground, and it was few meters (yards) off the ground,”.
According to a report, the helicopter crashed as it was about to land at a sports complex in the city of Baft, 155 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of the provincial capital, officials said.
Esmail Ahmadi, a senior adviser to the sports minister and a ministry director general, was killed in the incident, the head of emergency services in Kerman confirmed.
Sports Minister Hamid Sajjadi suffered a brain hemorrhage and was shifted to a local hospital, provincial officials said.
His condition is believed to be “unstable,” according to local officials and sources.
The Red Crescent Society in Kerman said at least 16 people were on board the helicopter when it crashed from a height of around 10 to 15 meters.
All 12 passengers and four crew members sustained injuries. The condition of at least two of them is said to be critical.
The cause of the crash is being investigated, state media cited the provincial governor, Mohammad-Mehdi Fadakar, as saying.
Sajjadi, is a former long-distance runner who represented Iran in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.
