New Delhi:The Red Crescent leader of Iran announced today that although President Ibrahim Raisi’s helicopter has been located, the situation remains ‘not good’.
The President Raisi and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, inaugurated the Qiz Qalasi Dam on their shared border. About thirty minutes after taking off for the Iranian city of Tabriz, the helicopter carrying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials lost contact.
This led to urgent worries and a large-scale search and rescue effort.
“The chopper is now located. As reported by news agency AFP, Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand stated, “We are heading toward the helicopter right now. The situation is not good.”
Anadolu, the state-run news agency in Turkey, released video of the drone locating what seems to be the wreckage of the helicopter and providing Iranian officials with its locations.
“The chopper is now located. Now, we’re heading in that direction,” Koolivand said. “The chopper is visible to us. The circumstances are grave.”
Drone photos purporting to depict the wreckage of the chopper were distributed by Iranian media, such as the Fars news agency. State media had earlier on Monday said that “the coordinates of the accident” were probably found by a Turkish drone, which then alerted Iranian rescue personnel.
According to sources, “an accident happened to the helicopter carrying the president” on Sunday afternoon in the province of East Azerbaijan’s Jolfa area. The search was being carried out by 73 rescue teams in “difficult conditions” in a hilly terrain with heavy rain and fog.
It was said by Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi that bad weather was the reason the chopper “made a hard landing”.
He told the people that they should “only get information from state television” and to ignore international media that Iran views as hostile.
Three helicopters were part of Raisi’s convoy, according to the Tasnim news agency, with the other two having “reached their destination safely.”
Iranians need not be concerned about the country’s leadership, according to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said that “there will be no disruption in the country’s work.”
He stated in a broadcast speech, “We hope that Almighty God will return our dear president and his companions safely to the nation,” as thousands prayed for Raisi’s safe return.
Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, Turkey, and the European Union expressed concern and offered assistance from afar, and the EU even turned on its fast reaction mapping service to help with the search.
Nasser Kanani, the spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, expressed gratitude to “governments and international organizations for their sympathy and offers of help in the search and rescue operations.”
Vice President Muhammad Mokhber called an emergency cabinet meeting after the event, according to the IRNA news agency.
According to IRNA, search and rescue teams outfitted with drones and search dogs were sent to the rugged Dizmar protected forest region near Varzaghan.
The Army, Revolutionary Guard, and police reportedly joined the search, according to the authorities. TV stations aired footage of Red Crescent personnel climbing a foggy hill and rows of emergency response trucks. Raisi was in the northwest province to officially open a dam project with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan close to their shared border.