National Search and Rescue Center shared its condolences to the families of the deceased.(Twitter/NSRCUAE)Four crew members on board a helicopter, out to rescue an injured man from UAE’s Jebel Jais mountains, lost their lives Saturday after the aircraft spun out of control and plummeted to the ground, RT reported. A footage of the incident has gone viral on social media, showing the red and white helicopter belonging to the UAE’s National Search and Rescue Center crashing to the ground.
The four crew members — two pilots, a navigator and a doctor — have been confirmed dead by the doctors. The pilots, Saqr Saeed Mohamed Abdullah Al Yamahi and Hameed Mohamed Obaid Al Za’abi, and the navigator, Jasim Abdullah Al-Tunaiji, were UAE nationals while paramedic Mark Roxburgh was a South African national.
The aircraft caught fire after it hit the terrain of the mountain. While the exact cause of the incident is yet to be determined, report suggests that the helicopter may have tipped a zipline, RT quoted local media as saying.
سقوط طائرة هيليكوبتر في جبل جيس قبل قليل ووفاة طاقم الطائرة ،، وكان سبب سقوطها الاصطدام بأسلاك لعبة الانزلاق الهوائي pic.twitter.com/gq23nX6yx6
— سلطان خليفة البوسعيدي (@uaeae71) December 29, 2018
National Search and Rescue Center shared its condolences to the families of the deceased.
يتقدم المركز الوطني للبحث والانقاذ بخالص العزاء وصادق المواساة لأسر شهداء حادثة سقوط طائرة البحث والانقاذ. الطيار صقر سعيد محمد عبدالله، الطيار حميد محمد عبيد الزعابي، الملاح جاسم عبدالله علي الطنيجي، المسعف مارك غافين روكسبرج. pic.twitter.com/6V2gwwEGzH
— NSRC-UAE (@NSRCUAE) December 30, 2018
Jebel Jais mountain is home to the world’s longest zipline, which was unveiled earlier this year. It is uncertain whether the 2.83 km ride was damaged during the helicopter crash.
(With inputs from RT)
