TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Five new rescue helicopters that Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has purchased will enter service within a month, an official announced.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Morteza Salimi, deputy head of the IRCS Relief and Rescue Organization, said the five Bell 412’s are now being flown in flight training courses.

The new copters have the capability to land on water, he added.

The Iranian parliament has recently allocated a budget to boost the country’s rescue and relief operations.

Relief choppers are used by the Iranian Red Crescent Society, a nongovernmental humanitarian organization, for search-and-rescue missions and transporting victims of natural disasters.

By Tasnim News Agency