President Raisi’s helicopter crashes in Iran: What we know so far
Al Jazeera
A helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and FM crashed while travelling back from East Azerbaijan province.
The world is watching as Iran mobilises emergency crews to search for President Ebrahim Raisi, whose helicopter – which was travelling in a convoy – went down in a remote area near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
He was returning from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, where he and the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had inaugurated a cooperative dam project, the latest sign of warming relations between the two countries. Twenty rescue teams and drones have been sent to the area where the helicopter came down.
Information is slowly emerging on this incident, but here is what we know so far.
Reports of a helicopter in the president’s convoy crashing first circulated on social media and were quickly picked up by local media. An initial report by the state-linked Mehr news website said Raisi had opted to travel to Tabriz by car due to the foggy weather conditions, and that he was safe.
The news was subsequently taken down after state television confirmed that the missing helicopter was carrying Raisi and the other officials. State television said the helicopter suffered a “hard landing”.
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