Iran president dies in helicopter crash

Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) president Pir-Hossein Kolivand said no survivors have been found at the site where the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed in northwest Iran.

“There are no trace of survivors after the discovery of the site of the crashed helicopter,” the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Kolivand early on Monday in an interview with the Tasnim news agency.

Kolivand revealed earlier in the day that the site of the crash involving Raisi and senior officials accompanying him had been found after hours of extensive searching in a mountainous region in the province of East Azerbaijan.

Raisi’s helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon in the Varzaqan region as he was returning with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several others from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.

It was earlier reported that the precise geographical coordinates of the helicopter carrying Raisi had been determined via aerial monitoring of the region where the crash occurred.

Turkiye’s high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle named Akinci had also detected a hotspot likely to be the crash site of the helicopter.

Rescue teams, including the armed forces, previously combed the rocky and hilly terrain near the city of Varzaqan in East Azerbaijan province, narrowing down the search radius despite foggy and rainy weather.

The IRCS earlier said it had dispatched more groups to help locate the crash site.

“Forty-six rapid response and rescue teams from the provinces of East Azerbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan, and West Azerbaijan have been mobilised to help in the search and rescue operation,” said the IRCS.

- Bernama

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