TEHRAN: All passengers aboard the helicopter transporting the Iranian president and foreign minister died.
As per the Mehr News Agency report, President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were onboard a helicopter that crashed in a dense forest area in East Azarbaijan on Sunday.
It was announced Monday morning that all passengers aboard the crashed helicopter had died.
The passengers of the helicopter, which included Ebrahim Raeisi, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to East Azarbaijan province, as well as several others, were martyred in the incident. Location of helicopter transporting President Raeisi sighted.
Following extensive search efforts, Pirhossein Kolivand, the Head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), announced that the crashed helicopter transporting President Raeisi has been located.
He added that there were no indications of surviving passengers.
On Monday morning, Kolivand stated that Red Crescent search and rescue teams had arrived at the crash site of the helicopter transporting President Raeisi.
In the search area, 73 rescue teams are present, equipped with advanced and specialized gear. Despite challenging weather conditions, the search operation has persisted since yesterday evening.