Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash

Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been killed in a helicopter crash in a mountainous area of north-western Iran, the country’s state media has said.

He was traveling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others.

A large search and rescue operation to try and locate the aircraft was launched on Sunday – with Russia and Turkey among the countries assisting in the effort.

It was initially reported that the helicopter carrying Mr Raisi and the foreign minister had made a rough landing in foggy conditions.

The helicopter came down in a remote area of north-western Iran on the way back from Azerbaijan where Mr Raisi had been meeting President Ilham Aliyev.

On Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent confirmed the bodies of the president and others who died in the crash had been recovered and search operations had ended.

“We are in the process of transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz [in Iran’s northwest],” the organisation’s chief said on state television.

According to local media he had been in the area to open the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams.

Ahead of the confirmation of the death, vigils had taken place in the capital, Tehran, with pictures showing people kneeling in prayer.

Source BBC