Iranian government officials officially confirmed that “all passengers on board the helicopter, including President Ibrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, died in the crash.
Search teams operating in icy and harsh weather conditions found the wreckage of the helicopter on a mountainside in East Azerbaijan province 15 hours after the suspected crash.
Iranian media and international media outlets had published photos of the crash site. It shows President Raisi’s helicopter wrecked on a mountaintop. One photo posted to social media by Al Jazeera reporter Ali Hashem showed the helicopter’s tail upside down in a grassy area.
“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter died in the crash,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters, asking not to be identified.
Iran’s Mehr news agency confirmed the deaths. “All the passengers in the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister have been martyred,” the news agency said.
An Iranian official earlier told Reuters that the helicopter carrying Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was completely destroyed in Sunday’s crash.
State television reported that photos showed the plane had crashed into a cliff, but the cause of the crash was not officially announced.
Raisi was flying a US-made Bell 212 helicopter when the accident occurred, state news agency IRNA said.
