Iran: What is known about the helicopter crash that killed President Ibrahim Raisi

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, according to that country’s state media.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian also died along with six other people in the accident on Sunday.

Search teams found the crash site of the helicopter carrying Raisi on Monday and state television said there was “no sign of life.”

The ship suffered a “forced landing” on Sunday after encountering difficulties amid dense fog in the north of the country, according to state media.

President Raisi was traveling with the Iranian foreign minister in a convoy of three helicopters that were flying over the area.

Raisi traveled to remote province on Sunday morning East AzerbaijanTo lead to the opening of the Qiz Qalasi and Khodafarin dams, a joint hydropower project with neighboring Azerbaijan on the Aras River, on Iran’s northwestern border.

He Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyevattended the ceremony and said he gave Raisi a friendly farewell before the helicopter left the area and took off TabrizA city located 130 kilometers south of Iran.

Raisi was to inaugurate a project at the Tabriz oil refinery.

Major General Hossein Salami, commander in chief, said seven people accompanying the ruler also died in the accident. Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).

The dead included Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan province, Malek Rahmati, and the religious leader who led Friday prayers in Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali al-Hashem, a senior Shia cleric who was supreme leader Was Ali Khamenei’s representative in East Azerbaijan.

Other victims were IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi, head of the presidential security team, pilots Colonel Mohsen Daryansh and Colonel Seyyed Taher Mustafavi, and senior technician Behrouz Kadhimi.

The helicopter crashed at about 1:30 pm local time in a remote mountainous area about 58 kilometers south of Qiz Qalasi Dam and 2 kilometers southwest of the village of Uzi, according to photographs published by Iranian officials and state media.

However, just after 4:00 pm local time, Iranian state television reported that the helicopter carrying the president had experienced a “hard landing” while flying to Tabriz amid dense fog and rain.

Interior Minister Ahmed Wahidi later confirmed that the presidential delegation was traveling in a convoy of three helicopters and his own “A forced landing was made due to poor weather conditions and fog in the area,

Vahidi said several rescue teams were headed to the area Fog, snow, rain and difficult terrain hampered search operations,

As for the other two helicopters that flew with the President, officials began the search 15 or 20 minutes after contact was lost. An official told state television that rescue teams were forced to make an emergency landing as the operation continued into the night.

Vice President for Executive Affairs, Mohsin Mansooriindicated that two people were contacted on the presidential helicopter: a flight crew member and a passenger.

“This shows that the seriousness of the incident was not very high, as the two people inside the helicopter managed to communicate with our team several times,” he said, without giving further details.

However, any hopes of Raisi and his companions being alive faded after Monday morning.

He said that at around 5:00 am local time, rescue workers spotted the remains from a distance of 2 kilometers and then took about an hour to reach them. Pirhossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent,

Once at the crash site, which was at an altitude of approximately 2,200 metres, they found no one “No sign of life”Colivand warned state television, which broadcast grainy photos of the hill seen from across the valley.

started showing images Blue and white tail of a helicopter next to several burnt bushes,

Later, after the deaths of Raisi and other passengers and crew were announced, state television broadcast images in which a reporter stood in front of the helicopter’s tail and other parts of the wreckage were visible.

State news agency IRNA also published a video showing rescue workers carrying a body wrapped in a blanket on a stretcher.

The bodies were recovered and taken to a cemetery in Tabriz.state television said.

Mohammad Nami, head of Iran’s crisis management agency, said all the bodies could be identified and “DNA testing was not necessary.,

He also claimed that Ayatollah al-A Hashem was alive for an hour after the crash and that he had contacted the head of the Presidential Office before he died.

So far, Iranian officials have not said what caused the accident.

However, government ministers revealed how the helicopter crashed after facing difficulties dense fog and rain,

State media identified the plane as a bell 212A model developed by an American company for the Canadian military in the 1960s.

The Iranian Navy and Air Force have 10 aircraft of this type.According to the World Air Force 2024 Directory flightglobalA portal specializing in aviation, but it is unclear how many are operated by the Iranian government.

State news agency IRNA detailed that the helicopter could carry six passengers and two crew members.

The Flight Safety Foundation, an NGO dedicated to aviation safety, said the last fatality involving a Bell 212 in Iran before Sunday was during a medical evacuation in April 2018.

supreme leader of iran Ayatollah Ali KhameneiThe highest authority in the Islamic Republic expressed his condolences, calling it a “bitter tragedy” and declared five days of national mourning.

“With deep sorrow and regret, I have received the bitter news of the martyrdom of the people’s PresidentCapable and hardworking Haj Syed Ibrahim Raisi and his respected team,” he said.

A statement issued by Iran’s cabinet said the president had “made the supreme sacrifice in the service of his nation.”

The ministers also promised Iranians that they would follow Raisi’s path and “will have no problems in managing the country.”

Raisi’s liberal rival and predecessor, Hasan Ruhani, expressed his condolences. “A bitter page has been turned in the book of.” islamic revolution“, he pointed.

Former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told state television that the United States was indirectly responsible for the crash because it had imposed sanctions for years that prevented Iran from purchasing new aircraft.

Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed that the Vice President Mohammad Mokhbar He was appointed interim president in accordance with Article 131 of the Constitution of Iran.

The Iranian Magna Carta establishes that the acting President shall supervise, together with the heads of the Parliament and the Judiciary. Election of new President within a maximum period of 50 days,

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s veteran nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, has been named acting foreign minister, a government spokesman said.

Bagheri Kani may serve in office for three months before Parliament appoints and approves a permanent replacement.

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