An Iranian military helicopter crashed in a fruit and vegetable market in central Iran on Tuesday, killing at least four people.Iranian state television reported that the incident occurred in Dorcheh, about 330 kilometers south of Tehran, in Isfahan province, the Associated Press reported.
The province includes a major Iranian air base and a nuclear site that the United States struck during the Iran-Israel war in June.State television said the military helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the crash. It added that the pilot and his co-pilot were killed, and broadcast footage showing the wreckage at the site and smoke rising from the market area. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that two people on the ground also died in the incident, raising the death toll to at least four. The accident comes less than a week after an F-4 Phantom II fighter plane crashed near the city of Hamedan in the west of the country, killing one of its pilots.Iran has witnessed many fatal aviation accidents over the years. Western sanctions have restricted access to aircraft parts, leaving the country dependent on an aging fleet of helicopters and planes for military and civilian use, according to the Associated Press.
