Traveling by air is one of the safest means of transportation, safer than road transportation which is the most used means of transportation across the world.
Arnold Barnett, a statistician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied airline safety, noted that from 2018 to 2022, the chances of a passenger being killed on a flight anywhere in the world was 1 in 13.4 million. Between 1968 to 1977, the chance was 1 in 350,000.
While the safety of air travel continues to improve over the years, it is still not invulnerable to accidents and unfavorable incidents. It has not only killed typical passengers but also world leaders.
Recently, the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, along with the foreign minister and six other people died in a helicopter crash.
On Monday morning, local media published images taken by a drone showing debris from what appears to be a completely destroyed aircraft on a steep slope in the middle of the forest.
Raisi and Amirabdollahian were travelling back from a meeting with the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, when their aircraft disappeared from radar on Sunday afternoon.
Below is the list of world leaders who have died in an aviation accident or incident:
Prime Minister of Sweden – 1936 [Plane Crash]
The first on the list is then-Prime Minister of Sweden, Arvid Lindman.
His full name is Salomon Arvid Achates Lindman. He was a Swedish rear admiral, industrialist and conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1906 to 1911 and again from 1928 to 1930.
Lindman died in an aircraft crash on 9 December 1936, when the Douglas DC-2 in which he was travelling crashed into houses near Croydon Airport just after taking off in thick fog.
President of Paraguay – 1940 [Plane Crash]
José Félix Estigarribia was a commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan Army during the Chaco war before he became the 34th President of Paraguay in 1939.
His full name is José Félix Estigarribia Insaurralde. On September 7, 1940, Estigarribia and his wife, First Lady Julia Miranda Cueto, were on a tour of the Paraguayan interior, a journey that will end his authoritarian rule.
During a trip from Altos to his country residence in San Bernardino, his plane crashed in Agapuey and all those on board were killed.
President of the Philippines – 1957 [Plane Crash]
On March 17, 1957, a C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft crashed on the slopes of Mount Manunggal on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.
The crash killed 25 of the aircraft’s 26 occupants, including the incumbent president of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay.
President of Brazil – 1958 [Plane Crash]
Nereu Ramos, served as interim president of Brazil for a brief period, died on June 16, 1958
He was among twenty-one persons killed in an airplane crash at Curitiba, capital of Parana State. The Cruzeiro do Sul airliner crashed near Curitiba Afonso Pena International Airport.
President of Central African Republic – 1959 [Plane Crash]
Premier Barthelemy Boganda, often described as a witch doctor’s son is a hero of independence.
Boganda was active prior to his country’s independence, during the period when the area, part of French Equatorial Africa, was administered by France under the name of Oubangui-Chari. He served as the first Premier of the Central African Republic as an autonomous territory.
On March 29, 1959, Barthelemy Boganda, died after his plane crashed.
UN Secretary-General – 1961 [Plane Crash]
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961.
On September 18, 1961, the plane of Hammarskjold, who was on duty to mediate peace in the Congo, crashed in today’s Zambia. Sixteen people, including Hammarskjold, died in the accident.
President of Iraq – 1966 [Plane Crash]
Abdul Salam Mohammed ?Arif al-Jumayli served as the second president of Iraq from 1963 until his death in an helicopter accident on April 13, 1966, in southern Iraq about 10 kilometres from Basra Airport.
Mohammed played a significant role in the 14 July Revolution, in which the Hashemite monarchy was overthrown on 14 July 1958.
President of Brazil – 1967 [Plane Crash]
Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco served as the first military president of Brazil after a coup in 1964, ending the Fourth Brazilian Republic.
Four months after leaving the Presidency, Castelo Branco died in a midair collision of Piper PA-23 aircraft near Fortaleza on 18 July 1967.
President of Bolivia – 1969 [Helicopter Accident]
René Barrientos Ortuño served as the 47th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1964 to 1966 and from 1966 to 1969.
At 49, Ortuno on 27 April 1969, when flying into Arque Municipality, Cochabamba Department, was killed in a helicopter crash.
The accident was rumoured to be an assassination, but the possility was never proven.
Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Portugal – 1980 [Plane Crash]
On December 4, 1980, Portuguese Prime Minister Francisco Sa Carneiro and Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa died when their plane crashed in the capital Lisbon just after takeoff.
President of Ecuador – 1981 [Plane Crash]
Jaime Roldós was the 33rd President of Ecuador from August 10, 1979 until his death in a plane crash on May 24, 1981.
The history of Ecuador was shaken in 1981 by the sudden death of Roldós and his wife Martha Bucaram in a plane crash considered suspicious.
In his short tenure, he became known for his firm stance on human rights, which led to clashes with other Latin American governments and poor relations with Ronald Reagan’s United States administration.
President of Panama – 1981 [Plane Crash]
On July 31, 1981, Panamanian President Omar Torrijos died when the small plane he was flying crashed into a forest.
President of Mozambique – 1986 [Plane Crash]
Samora Machel served as the first President of Mozambique from the country’s independence in 1975 until his death in October 19, 1986.
Machel onboard a Mozambican presidential aircraft, a Tupolev TU 134A-3, was returning from Zambia after the Lusaka Summit to be in time for Ms Graça Machel’s birthday.
The crash site is in the little triangle where the borders of Swaziland and Mozambique meet the South African border in the Lebombo Mountains.
Prime Minister of Lebanon – 1987 [Bomb on Plane]
On June 1, 1987, Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami lost his life when a bomb exploded in the helicopter he was on board to go to Beirut.
The remote-controlled bomb, weighing approximately 300 grams and placed behind the seat where he would sit, was detonated shortly after it took off. Only Karami died in the accident.
President of Pakistan – 1988 [Plane Crash]
The sixth president of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, was among the people who died in an aircraft crash on August 17, 1988 in Bahawalpur near the Sutlej River.
President of Rwanda and Burundi – 1994 [Plane Crash]
The death of Juvenal Habyarimana in a plane crash on the evening of April 6, 1994, was not accidental but an assassination.
The jet carrying Habyriamana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu, was shot down with surface-to-air missiles as their jet prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda; both were killed.
President of North Macedonia – 2004 [Plane Crash]
A plane carrying Boris Trajkovski, who served as the second president of Macedonia, and his accompanying delegation crashed near the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina on February 26, 2004.
Eight people, including Trajkovski and his advisors, died in the accident.
An international commission established to investigate the plane crash announced in a report shared with the public after two years of research that the plane crash was the result of “pilot error.”
President of Poland – 2010 [Plane Crash]
Lech Kaczynski, the fourth president of the Republic of Poland and his wife, Maria Kaczy?ska, along with 94 other people were killed after a Polish Air Force Tu-154 crashed outside of Smolensk, Russia
Former President of Chile – 2024 [Helicopter Accident]
Sebastian Pinera, a former president of Chile, served two terms, from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022.
Pinera, 74, on February 7, 2024, was pronounced dead when his helicopter crashed into a lake in southern Chile.
President of Iran – 2024 [Helicopter Crash]
Iran president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were among the nine dead after an helicopter crash in the country’s North-West.
Raisi and Amirabdollahian were travelling back from a meeting with the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, when their aircraft disappeared from radar on Sunday afternoon.
Summary
| Name | Title | Year | |
| 1. | Salomon Arvid Achates Lindman | Prime Minister of Sweden | 1936 |
| 2. | José Félix Estigarribia | President of Paraguay | 1940 |
| 3. | Ramon Magsaysay | President of the Philippines | 1957 |
| 4. | Nereu Ramos | President of Brazil | 1958 |
| 5. | Barthelemy Boganda | President of Central African Republic | 1959 |
| 6. | Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld | UN Secretary-General | 1961 |
| 7. | Abdul Salam Mohammed ‘Arif al-Jumayli | President of Iraq | 1966 |
| 8. | Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco | President of Brazil | 1967 |
| 9. | René Barrientos Ortuño | President of Bolivia | 1969 |
| 10. | Francisco Sa Carneiro and Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa | Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Portugal | 1980 |
| 11. | Jaime Roldós | President of Ecuador | 1981 |
| 12. | Omar Torrijos | President of Panama | 1981 |
| 13. | Samora Machel | President of Mozambique | 1986 |
| 14. | Rashid Karami | Prime Minister of Lebanon | 1987 |
| 15. | Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq | President of Pakistan | 1988 |
| 16. | Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira | President of Rwanda and Burundi | 1994 |
| 17. | Boris Trajkovski | President of North Macedonia | 2004 |
| 18. | Lech Kaczynski | President of Poland | 2010 |
| 19. | Sebastian Pinera | Former President of Chile | 2024 |
| 20. | Ebrahim Raisi | President of Iran | 2024 |
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. NewsWireNGR or its editorial team cannot independently verify all details.
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