Iran helicopter crash newest: ‘No sign of life’ as president Ebrahim Raisi’s chopper discovered on aspect of steep mountain | EUROtoday

Hopes of discovering Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi alive started to fade after the wreckage of his helicopter was positioned earlier on Monday by the slope of a mountain.“

President “Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash … unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” an official advised Reuters.

Rescue groups fought blizzards and tough terrain by way of the evening to achieve the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province.

“We can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good,” the top of Iran’s Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Kolivand, advised state media.

There has been “no sign of life” detected on the crash website of a helicopter carrying Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian state TV stated on Monday.

The assertion comes minutes after the Iranian Red Crescent stated its search and rescue groups have reached the crash website of the helicopter carrying the president, international minister and different senior officers.

Rescuers have discovered a helicopter that was carrying Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, in addition to the nation’s international minister and different senior officers, that had apparently crashed within the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran yesterday.

The helicopter was seen from a distance of some 2km, the top of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, advised state media.

Turkish authorities this morning launched what they described as drone footage exhibiting what gave the impression to be a fireplace within the wilderness that they “suspected to be the wreckage of helicopter”.

The coordinates listed within the footage put the hearth some 20km south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the aspect of a steep mountain.

Born to a conservative household in japanese Iran, Raisi studied theology on the seminaries in Qom, a metropolis simply south of the Iranian capital Tehran.

He was a youngster when the nation’s Islamic revolution established Iran as a theocracy in 1979 and he shortly turned an enthusiastic participant in imposing the imaginative and prescient of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic.

At 21 years previous, Raisi started serving as a prosecutor, pursuing politically charged instances within the cities of Karaj and Hamadan. He gained a status as one of many regime’s most extreme figures – a younger, brash ideologue, prepared to get his palms soiled.

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The plane had a “rough landing” close to Jolfa, the Iranian metropolis on the border of Azerbaijan exclave Nakhchivan, round 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran.

It was carrying Raisi, 63, and Iranian international minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian following a go to with the Azerbaijani president to debate an infrastructure challenge over the Aras River.

It was described as a crash by a neighborhood official, however he acknowledged an infinite search operation involving 16 groups had but to find the helicopter to substantiate the extent of the incident.

The United Nations is following experiences of Iranian president Raisi’s crashed helicopter with concern and hopes for his security, a spokesperson stated.

“The Secretary-General is following reports of an incident with Iranian President Raisi’s aircraft with concern. He hopes for the safety of the president and his entourage,” the spokesperson stated.

General Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, together with a gaggle of IRGC commanders, has arrived within the space.

They are in space to research the incident and to problem orders aimed on the search and rescue operations – that are being carried out by round 40 groups.

Iranians have been pictured praying for the well being of their president Ebrahim Raisi after officers stated his life was in danger following a helicopter crash.

On Sunday, Iran’s supreme chief urged Iranians to not fear concerning the crash and insisted they pray for his well being and return Tehran.

Iran’s cupboard, chaired by the primary vice chairman Mohammad Mokhber, held an emergency assembly Sunday night.

“The meeting focused on the hard landing of the president’s helicopter upon the first vice president’s directive,” state media reported.

“The first vice president instructed the minister of health and the executive vice president to travel to the affected region.

“The convening of this emergency meeting aimed to mobilise all available resources to monitor and respond to President Ebrahim Raisi’s situation following the helicopter accident.”