Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, have been killed in a helicopter crash, according to state media.
Also killed on board were the Imam for Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, and the governor of the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, General Malek Rahmati.
Commander of the President’s protection unit, Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, was also killed, as well as a number of bodyguards and helicopter crew who have not yet been named.
Earlier, rescuers who reached the crash site in northwestern Iran said there was “no sign of life” there.
The helicopter – one of three travelling in a convoy – crashed after it got into difficulties in heavy fog in the north of the country.
Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz, in the north west of Iran, after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area, according to local media.
The incident sparked a massive search operation that was hampered by bad weather conditions.
Source: BBC
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
