C T Online Desk: TEHRAN, May 20, 2024 (AFP) – Rescue teams in northwest Iran early Monday
located the missing helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi but no signs
of life had been detected so far, state TV reported.
Fears had been growing for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact
was lost with the aircraft carrying him as well as Foreign Minister Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian and others in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, reports
said.
“Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers
being alive as of yet,” state TV reported about 15 hours after the aircraft
went missing.
Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand said rescue teams were heading
towards the site after locating the aircraft.
“The helicopter has been found. Now, we are moving toward the helicopter,”
said Koolivand. “We are seeing the helicopter. The situation is not good.”
Iranian media including Fars news agency shared drone images of what appeared
to be the wreckage of the helicopter.
State television reported earlier Monday that a Turkish drone appeared to
have detected “the coordinates of the accident” and had informed Iranian
rescue teams.
It first reported Sunday afternoon that “an accident happened to the
helicopter carrying the president” in the Jolfa region of East Azerbaijan
province.
The search operation was being carried out by 73 rescue teams in “difficult
conditions” in a mountainous area covered in thick fog and rain, the Red
Crescent said.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi earlier said the helicopter “made a hard
landing” in bad weather.
He urged people to get their information “only from state television”, and
not listen to foreign media channels Iran deems hostile to the Islamic
republic.
Raisi’s convoy had included three helicopters, and the other two had “reached
their destination safely”, said the Tasnim news agency.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians to “not worry” about the
leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in
the country’s work”.
