Monday 21 / April / 2025
Iran state TV reported that there was "no sign of life" detected at the crash site of the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and others.
"Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet," state TV reported.
The update came within minutes of rescuers having said they had located the site of the accident where President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter was believed to have gone down.
"President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash ... unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead," an Iranian official told Reuters news agency.
Raisi and other officials were returning from Iran's northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday evening when the accident took place in the province. Details about the exact location of the site was contradictory as of Sunday.
Raisi was there to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev earlier on Sunday.
Search teams reach wreckage of helicopter carrying Iranian president, state TV says
Search teams were able to reach the wreckage of the helicopter that was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials, state TV reported in the early hours of Monday.
The chief of the Iranian Red Crescent said Monday the "helicopter has been found" and that rescue teams were moving closer to the site. Pirhossein Koolivand added that the "situation was not good."
State TV IRIB said the helicopter belonged to the Iranian Red Crescent on Sunday. The helicopter Raisi was traveling crashed at a remote site in northern Iran on Sunday evening due to bad weather.
Harsh weather conditions in the area made it difficult to continue search operations with the president having been missing for more than 12 hours as of early Monday.
Traveling with the president in the helicopter was Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian, East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati and several other passengers, state media said.
Rescue teams search for Iran's presidenter after helicopter crash
