Iranian media announced Monday morning the death of President Ebrahim Raïssi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the accident the day before of their helicopter in north-west Iran. The wreckage of the plane was found on the side of a mountain.
The information of the president’s death was given by the main news agencies and newspapers, pending a statement from the authorities after the discovery of the wreckage of the helicopter at dawn. Television broadcasts religious songs on Monday morning and shows photos of the president.
“The great spirit of the popular and revolutionary president of Iran has joined the supreme kingdom,” said the official Irna agency, saluting the “martyrdom” of the victims. She said the government would issue “a statement” mid-morning.
About fifteen hours after the disappearance of the aircraft, the debris of the helicopter was spotted on the side of a mountain against which it crashed, according to a photograph of the location published by the media.
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“The president’s helicopter has been located. Emergency services are approaching the crash site […] The situation is not good,” the head of the Red Crescent declared around 6 a.m. (4:30 a.m. in Switzerland).
The search operations, carried out by 73 rescue teams, are taking place in “difficult conditions” in a mountainous area immersed in rain and thick fog.
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Convoy of three helicopters
At the request of Tehran, Moscow announced that it would send around fifty rescue operations specialists, all-terrain vehicles and a helicopter to Iran. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Iran’s ambassador to Russia, according to the official Tass news agency.
Turkey deployed 32 rescue workers and a night vision drone which was operational overnight, while the European Union announced that it had activated, at Iran’s request, “the CopernicusEMS rapid response mapping service” to support Tehran in the research.
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President Raïssi was on board the plane in the company of Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of the province and the main imam of the region, according to the Irna agency.
The aircraft, a Bell 212, was part of a convoy of three helicopters carrying the presidential delegation, two of which landed without incident in Tabriz, the large city in the northwest, from where Ebrahim Raïssi was to reach Tehran.
Returning from Azerbaijan
Ebrahim Raïssi visited the province of Eastern Azerbaijan on Sunday, where he notably inaugurated a dam in the company of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, on the border between the two countries.
During a joint press conference, he once again gave his support to the Palestinians in the war in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel. “We believe that Palestine is the first issue of the Muslim world, and we are convinced that the people of Iran and Azerbaijan always support the people of Palestine and Gaza and hate the Zionist regime,” he said.
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