PLANE CRASHES THAT CLAIMED AFRICAN LEADERS.

Iran held the public funeral on 22 May, for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (1960-2024), who died in a helicopter crash along with his foreign minister and their security on 19 May in northwestern Iran.

Many have speculated about what could have caused Sunday’s unfortunate event, which joins a list of controversial air crashes that have claimed the lives of leaders, including those from Africa.

For instance, John Garang, the then-vice president of Sudan and longtime leader of the movement for a united Sudan, died when the Ugandan presidential helicopter he was travelling in crashed on 31 July 2005, just three weeks after being sworn in as Sudan’s vice president.

Mozambique’s revolutionary president, Samora Machel, lost his life when his plane crashed in neighbouring South Africa in late 1986.

Plus, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi’s President Cyprien Ntaryamira were both killed in a plane crash in 1994.