# Iranian attack helicopter crashes into Isfahan market, killing four
Event date: 2026-02-24. An Iranian military helicopter crashed into a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Isfahan province, killing at least four people and injuring others, according to a report that cited Iranian state media and the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency.
The supplied report identified the aircraft as a Bell 209, also described as an AH-1J SeaCobra attack helicopter, and said it belonged to the Iranian Army’s Aviation unit. It came down in the city of Darcheh in Khomeyni Shahr County while on what the report described as a routine training mission. The report framed the crash as a military aviation accident rather than an attack, and said the aircraft struck the market compound during daytime activity.
The immediate effect was catastrophic for people inside and around the market. The supplied report said the helicopter ignited a large fire when it hit the site, and that the impact killed two military officers instantly. It also said two vendors working at their stalls were killed as the helicopter plowed into the crowded commercial area. At least one additional person was reported injured and taken to a nearby medical facility. Because the excerpt does not provide a full casualty breakdown beyond those details, the article should not assume a higher toll than the supplied evidence supports.
Emergency services and firefighters from the Isfahan Red Crescent Society rushed to the scene to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading through the tightly packed stalls. The response detail matters because the market was described as densely built up, which helps explain why the fire became an urgent hazard after the crash. The supplied report did not provide an official final count of missing people, and it did not indicate how long the fire burned before it was brought under control.
The report said the official IRNA news agency attributed the crash to a technical malfunction. It also said this was the second major Iranian aviation disaster in less than a week, after a separate F-4 fighter jet crash in Hamadan province. Those details place the event in a broader context of recent military aviation accidents, but the evidence in this shard does not offer an independent technical investigation or a formal accident report.
The same report also described Iran’s military fleet as aging, saying most of the country’s attack helicopters and fighter jets were bought before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and that sanctions have made it difficult to obtain genuine spare parts for U.S.-built aircraft. It further said the crash occurred while the military was on high alert amid escalating tensions and threats of U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, and noted that Isfahan is a critical military hub with a major air base and sensitive nuclear facilities.
Those wider claims should be read carefully. In this shard, they appear as contextual assertions in the supplied report rather than independently confirmed findings. What is directly supported is that a military helicopter crashed into a market in Isfahan province, a fire followed, at least four people died, others were injured, and Iranian state media was cited as blaming a technical malfunction.
