Security officials gave no cause for the crash, but said a search of the wreckage was underway. In Yemen, Houthi officials offered no immediate comment on the crash, while its Al-Masirah satellite news channel reported only that the crash had occurred.
The Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al-Arabiya, based in Dubai, reported that the crash killed Prince Mansour bin Murquin and seven others. Prince Mansour was the deputy governor of Asir province.
Prince Mansour was the son of Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, a former intelligence service director and a one-time crown prince of the kingdom. Prince Muqrin was removed as crown prince in April 2015 by his half brother King Salman in favour of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a counterterrorism czar and interior minister.
But in June, King Salman also ousted Prince Mohammed in favour of installing his 32-year-old son, the now-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as first in line to the throne.
All these moves have cemented the young crown prince’s position in power. Further solidifying his hold was the arrests late Saturday of dozens of the country’s most powerful princes, military officers, influential businessmen and government ministers in a purported anti-corruption campaign.
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09:06
A Saudi prince and several government officials have reportedly died in an aircraft crash in Saudi Arabia near the Yemen border.
A helicopter carrying Saudi government officials has crashed in the southwest Asir Region of the country, media reported.
Prince Mansour bin Muqrin, the deputy governor of the Asir region, and several senior regional government officials had died in the crash, according to Al Arabiya. Search operation for the wreckage of the helicopter is currently under way, according to media reports.
Prince Mansour bin Muqrin, the son of Prince Muqrin al-Saud, former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, was also a member of the House of Saud, and an advisor at the court of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabian Asir Region borders with Yemen in the south. Yemen has been in the grip of a brutal civil war since 2015. In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries launched airstrikes against the Houthi Shia movement at the request of the internationally recognized government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
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