4 Die in Crash of Copter Meant to Fly Hussein

One of three helicopters assigned to ferry visiting Jordanian King Hussein and his entourage crashed in heavy rain and fog today, killing four helicopter company employees.

Hussein apparently decided to make the trip by car to Connecticut for his daughter’s high school graduation because the bad weather in Boston, where he had been staying.

“There’s been a very tragic accident,” Hussein’s American-born wife, Queen Noor, said as she left a Boston hotel. “We pray that all those on board will be all right.

“There were no members of our party on board,” she added.

Copters Heading Back

A State Department official in Washington said the weather in Boston was so bad that the official party decided to go by motorcade. “The three helicopters that were to have taken them on the trip were trying to fly back to the base when one of them crashed,” he added.

Hussein went on to attend the graduation of his daughter, Princess Zeim, 18, at the Westover School in Middlebury, Conn., school officials confirmed. Zeim’s twin, Princess Alisha, is to graduate from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Mass., Sunday.

Hussein is meet with President Reagan in Washington on Monday and then go to Cleveland for a medical checkup.

All aboard the helicopter were thought to be employees of the Sikorsky Aircraft Co. “We found two (bodies) and parts of possibly two,” State Trooper Daniel Duffy said.