A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials crashed in the country’s hilly northwest the day before, and rescuers discovered the wreckage. Raisi has already been formally declared dead. Aged sixty-three, he was.
The Iranian media reported that Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Malek Rahmati, the governor of the province of Eastern Azerbaijan, Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem, the leader of Tabriz’s Friday prayer, a pilot, a copilot, the head of security, and an additional bodyguard were all on board. It’s official—all nine are dead.
Senior Iranian officials told Reuters that “President Raisi, the foreign minister, and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash.”
Early on Monday, the IRNA posted footage that appeared to be the accident scene, which was located across a steep valley in a range of green mountains, according to the agency. We found it, stated the soldiers in the Azeri dialect spoken there. Search teams who located the wreckage discovered “no sign of life,” according to an Iranian official.
Following Raisi’s passing, Iran’s first vice president, 68-year-old Muhammad Mokhber, will take over as acting president. In Raisi’s absence, Mokhber had already started getting calls from authorities and foreign governments, according to state media.
Additionally, it was stated that Raisi’s customary chair was left empty and wrapped in a black scarf in remembrance of the nation’s leader at an “urgent meeting” conducted by the cabinet on Monday.
To get to the wreckage in the early hours of Monday morning, rescue crews had to battle through the night against blizzards and challenging terrain in the province of East Azerbaijan.
Turkish authorities said to have published drone footage early on Monday morning that appeared to reveal what looked to be a fire in the woods, which they believed to be the wreckage of the aircraft.
The fire was located on a steep mountainside about 12 miles south of the border between Azerbaijan and Iran, according to the locations shown in the video.
According to state media, 50-man specialized mountain rescue unit from ally Russia was summoned to help with the search.
In a Telegram post, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reaffirmed it.
According to Iran’s Red Crescent, there were about 73 teams involved, in addition to detecting dogs.