New Delhi: Eight passengers and crew including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were killed in a tragic accident when the the helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border on May 19, 2024.
President Ebrahim Raisi was buried in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad on Thursday as many thousands of mourners packed its streets for his funeral, four days after he died in a helicopter crash, footage broadcast by Iranian media showed.
Raisi’s helicopter crashed into the mountains when he along with other passengers was flying to the city of Tabriz to inaugurate an oil refinery after inaugurating a hydro project in East Azerbaijan.
According to a BBC report, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi later confirmed that the president’s delegation was travelling in a convoy of three helicopters when bad weather and fog forced their aircraft to make a hard landing.
He stated that multiple rescue teams were en route to the area, but fog, snow, rain, and difficult terrain were hindering the search operation. Regarding the other two helicopters flying alongside the president’s, they initiated a search for 15 to 20 minutes after losing communication. However, they were eventually forced to make emergency landings, an official told state TV as the operation continued into the night.
As per the report, officials were able to contact two people on the president’s helicopter – a flight crew member and one other individual. This suggests that the severity of the incident was not extreme, as two individuals inside the helicopter were able to communicate with our team multiple times. Therefore, it is possible that the bodies did not burn and that the passengers succumbed to fatal injuries due to the crash’s impact.
Raisi, 63, was widely seen as a candidate to succeed 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran. Mohammad Mokhber, who had been first vice president, is serving as interim president until a June election.