The helicopter, which was additionally carrying International Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, went down in poor climate.
State media in Iran have reported the loss of life of President Ebrahim Raisi after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed in poor climate in an jap province.
The experiences got here after rescuers from the Iranian Pink Crescent mentioned they’d discovered the wreckage of the helicopter, which was additionally carrying the nation’s overseas minister and different officers, and that there was “no sign of life”.
Rescue groups fought via dense fog, blizzards and mountainous terrain to succeed in the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province early on Monday, however state tv gave no speedy trigger for the crash. With Raisi had been Iran’s International Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan province and different officers and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA information company reported.
“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash … unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” the Reuters information company reported, citing an unnamed Iranian official.
Raisi, 63, was elected president on his second try in 2021, and since taking workplace, has overseen a tightening of morality legal guidelines, a bloody crackdown on antigovernment protests triggered by the loss of life in custody of 22-year-old lady Mahsa Amini, and brought a harder strategy to nuclear talks with world powers.
Final month, he ordered an unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel, following an alleged Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus which killed 13 folks together with a prime commander and his deputy.
Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds final energy in Iran, had earlier sought to reassure Iranians, a few of whom turned out to wish for Raisi’s wellbeing, saying there could be no disruption to state affairs.
‘We found it’
Raisi was travelling house to Tehran when state tv mentioned his helicopter made a “hard landing” close to Jolfa, a metropolis on the border with Azerbaijan, some 600km (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital. Later, state media put the crash location farther east close to the village of Uzi, however particulars remained contradictory.
Iran’s International Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was additionally on the flight, in addition to the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and different officers and bodyguards, in response to the state-run IRNA information company.
Earlier on Monday, Turkish authorities launched what they described as drone footage displaying what gave the impression to be a hearth within the wilderness that they “suspected to be [the] wreckage of [a] helicopter”. The coordinates listed within the footage put the hearth some 20km (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the facet of a steep mountain.
Footage launched by the IRNA confirmed what the company described because the crash web site, throughout a steep valley in a inexperienced mountain vary. Troopers talking within the native Azeri language mentioned: “There it is, we found it.”
Shortly after, state TV in an on-screen scrolling textual content, mentioned: “There is no sign of life from people on board.” It didn’t elaborate, however the semiofficial Tasnim information company confirmed rescuers utilizing a small drone to fly over the location, with them talking amongst themselves saying the identical factor. The footage confirmed the tail of the helicopter and burnt particles throughout it.
Beneath the Iranian Structure, if a president is confirmed lifeless, Iran’s vice first president takes over and a brand new presidential election could be known as inside 50 days.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officers and overseas governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported.
Raisi, a hardliner who previously led the nation’s judiciary, is considered as a protege of 85-year-old Khamenei.
