Accidents: State TV: No survivors after helicopter crash | EUROtoday

Rescue employees discovered no indicators of survivors on the crash website of the presidential helicopter in Iran. Iranian state tv reported this within the morning. There was initially no official affirmation of the whereabouts of the 9 occupants of the helicopter by which President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian had additionally flown.

The state information company Irna printed photos taken by a drone displaying particles from a very destroyed helicopter on a slope. The head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pir-Hussein Kuliwand, had beforehand described the state of affairs as grim. Further particulars had been initially not identified.

President Raisi was returning with Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian from a gathering with the President of neighboring Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, when their helicopter went lacking within the northwest of the nation on Sunday afternoon. Dozens of rescue groups continued to seek for the helicopter and its 9 occupants in tough climate situations within the mountainous terrain after darkish.

If the 2 statesmen had been killed, the results could be tough to foretell. However, the Islamic Republic is more likely to plunge right into a severe disaster. Iran's spiritual chief Ali Khamenei, who as probably the most highly effective man within the state has the ultimate say on all strategic points, assured that night that even within the worst case situation, all situations had been taken under consideration. He prayed for the return of his protégé Raisis, who was already being mentioned as a possible successor to the 85-year-old.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:240520-99-96797/3