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Rabat – Saudi Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin was killed in a helicopter crash near the Yemeni border on Sunday, one day after Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the arrest of princes, ministers, and prominent businessmen.
Along with a team of other government officials, Prince Mansour was conducting a tour of local projects near Abha, about 160 kilometers from the border with Yemen, when his helicopter crashed. He is reported dead, while the fate of his team is still unknown.
Saudi officials have not yet determined the cause for the crash. “While returning in the evening of the same day, contact with the plane was lost in the vicinity of the Reda reserve,”stated the interior ministry.
It added that a search of the wreckage is underway. “The authorities are currently searching for survivors as the wreckage has been found.”
Following the crash, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab nations supporting Yemen’s recognized government in its war against the Houthi rebels closed Yemen’s air, land, and ports.
While the interior ministry did not establish a link between the crash and the war in Yemen, the Saudi military said on Saturday that they intercepted a ballistic missile near the Saudi capital, Riyadh, adding that is “was fired by Houthi rebels.”
Further, the 40-year-old prince died one day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the arrest of 11 of his royal cousins, as well as nearly 40 of the country’s most influential military officers, businessmen, and government ministers.
Prince Mansour was the son of Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, a former intelligence chief who was crown prince from January to April 2015.
The late prince served as a consultant to his father’s royal court and in April 2017 was among eight young royals appointed deputy governors.
