KABUL (Pajhwok): Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have been killed in a helicopter crash, Iranian media reported on Monday.
The helicopter’s passengers, including Raisi, Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, representative of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and several other people died in the incident, Mehr news agency reported.
Raisi was returning from the inaugural ceremony for a dam on Iran’s border with the Republic of Azerbaijan when his helicopter crashed upon landing in Varzaqan region on Sunday.
Reuters quoted a senior Iranian official as saying: “President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash.”
Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand, earlier, told the state-run TV. “We can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good.”
He added: “With the discovery of the crash site, no signs of life have been detected among the helicopter’s passengers.”
Images from the scene showed the chopper crashed into a mountain peak. Blizzards and difficult terrain hampered rescue efforts all night long.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has a final say on foreign policy and the nuclear programme, promised there would be no disruption to state affairs.
Prayers, searches
According to Anadolu news agency Turkish drone identified a source of heat suspected to be the helicopter’s wreckage and had shared the coordinates of the possible site with Iranian officials.
The White House said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on reports about the crash. With China voicing deep concern, the European Union offered emergency satellite mapping technology.
sa/mud
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