On May 19, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed. On Monday, May 20, rescuers managed to reach the crash site.
It is reported by Reuters.
The publication cites an Iranian official as saying that hopes that the Iranian President and his Foreign Minister survived the helicopter crash in the mountainous terrain in bad weather are fading. The official said in an interview with Reuters:
"President Raisi, the Foreign Minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash."
Rescuers managed to find and reach the wreckage in the East Azerbaijan Province early on Monday morning, May 20, despite blizzards and difficult terrain. The Head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said the following:
"With the discovery of the crash site, no signs of life have been detected among the helicopter's passengers."
The words of the Head of the Iranian Red Crescent may confirm the deaths of the following officials who were on board at the time:
- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
- Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian
- Malik Rahmati, Governor of East Azerbaijan Province
- Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, Imam of Tabriz.
The Telegram network showed footage from the crash site of the Iranian President's helicopter, which was filmed with a quadcopter. Later, the first footage of the victims on board also appeared.
Earlier, Apostrophe reported that Iran has transferred about 400 ballistic missiles to Russia.