Iranian rescue teams search a remote area of the East Azerbaijan Province, Iran in fog, trying to locate the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister after reports that it crashed.
EAST AZERBAIJAN PROVINCE, Iran – Rescue teams are searching for the helicopter carrying Iran’s President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi after it reportedly crashed Sunday amid heavy fog.
The president and foreign minister were flying through the mountains in the northwest of the country after a dam inauguration with the president of Azerbaijan.
The spokesperson for Iran’s Emergency Services said that the fog is making air rescue efforts “impossible.” The remote rugged terrain in the mountainous region near the country’s border with Azerbaijan has slowed the 46 rescue crews, eight ambulances, drones and sniffer dogs. Local media also reported heavy rain and cold temperatures in the area.
The interior minister confirmed on state-run TV that one of the helicopters of the president’s convoy was forced to make “a hard landing.”
In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA on May 19, 2024, shows the helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi taking off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after the inauguration of the dam of Qiz Qalasi, in Aras. A helicopter in the convoy of the Iranian president was involved in “an accident” in East Azerbaijan province on May 19, state television reported, without specifying if the president was on board.
(Getty Images)
“Various rescue groups are moving towards the site, but due to the fog and bad weather, it may take time to reach the area,” Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said. “There have been contacts with [the president’s] companions, but given that the area is mountainous and it is difficult to establish contacts, we hope that the rescue teams will reach the site of the incident sooner and give us more information.”
There have been no reports of the president’s condition.
Due to heavy fog the Iranian president’s helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing that local media is calling a crash.
(FOX Weather)
“Two of the passengers of this flight communicated with the rescue forces, meaning that the accident was probably of low severity,” Iran’s Deputy President for Executive Affairs said in a statement.
Emergency medical teams of doctors were sent immediately to the site after the crash was reported.
In this handout image supplied by the Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as they inaugurate the Qiz Qalasi Dam, constructed on the Aras River on the joint borders between Iran and Azerbaijan, after which his helicopter has reportedly crashed near the city of Jolfa, on the border with Azerbaijan on May 19, 2024 in Jabrayil, Azerbaijan.
(Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran / Getty Images)