Ebrahim Raisi: What we know about deadly Iran helicopter crash

 
President Ibrahim Raisi

Iranian authorities have confirmed that President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others were killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan. Here is what we know so far about the incident.

Why was the president flying in a helicopter?


On Sunday morning, President Ebrahim Raisi traveled to the far north-western province of East Azerbaijan for the inauguration of the Qiz Qalasi and Khoda Afarin dams, a joint hydroelectric power project with neighboring Azerbaijan on the Aras River. He attended the ceremony alongside Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, who bid him a "friendly farewell" before Raisi's helicopter departed the dam area. The helicopter was en route to the city of Tabriz, approximately 130 km (80 miles) to the south, where Raisi was scheduled to inaugurate a project at the Tabriz oil refinery.

Who else was on board the aircraft?

President Ebrahim Raisi (3rd L) was in north-western Iran for the inauguration of a dam, accompanied by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (2nd R), East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati (2nd L), and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem (5th R).

According to Major General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), seven individuals accompanying President Ebrahim Raisi also perished in the helicopter crash. Among them were Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian; the governor of East Azerbaijan province, Malek Rahmati; and Tabriz’s Friday prayer leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, who was also Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s official representative in East Azerbaijan. Additionally, Gen Salami identified IRGC Brig-Gen Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi, the head of the president's security team; pilots Col Mohsen Daryanush and Col Seyyed Taher Mostafavi; and technician Maj Behrouz Qadimi as the others who died in the crash.

Where did the helicopter crash?


 


The incident occurred at around 13:30 local time (10:00 GMT) in a remote, mountainous area about 58km (36 miles) south of the Qiz Qalasi Dam and 2km southwest of the village of Uzi, according to Iranian officials and photographs published by state media.

Iranian state TV reported at around 16:00 local time (12:45 GMT) that the helicopter carrying the president had experienced a “hard landing” while flying to Tabriz in heavy fog and rain.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi later confirmed that the president’s delegation had been traveling in a convoy of three helicopters and that Raisi's aircraft was “forced to make a hard landing due to bad weather conditions and fog in the area.” He noted that multiple rescue teams were dispatched to the area, but fog, snow, rain, and the local terrain were hampering the search operation.

The other two helicopters in the convoy initiated a search for 15 to 20 minutes after communication was lost with the president's helicopter. They were then forced to make emergency landings, an official told state TV as the operation continued into the night.

Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri stated that contacts had been made with two people on the president’s helicopter - a flight crew member and one other individual. "This indicates that the severity of the incident was not very high, as two of the individuals inside the helicopter managed to communicate with our team multiple times,” he added, without providing further details.

However, hopes that Raisi and his entourage had survived were dashed after daybreak on Monday.

 
Photographs from the scene on Monday showed rescuers climbing a steep mountainside, shrouded in fog


 


At about 05:00 (01:30 GMT), rescuers spotted the wreckage from a distance of about 2km (1.2 miles) and took approximately an hour to reach it, according to Pirhossein Kolivand, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent.

Upon reaching the crash site, which was situated at an altitude of around 2,200 meters (7,200 feet), they found "no signs of life," Kolivand reported to state TV. State TV broadcast grainy footage of the crash site on a mountainside, showing the blue-and-white tail of the helicopter amidst burnt shrubs.

Following the announcement of the deaths of President Raisi and the others on board, state TV showed footage of a correspondent standing in front of the helicopter's tail and other wreckage parts. Additionally, the state news agency Irna released a video of rescuers carrying a body wrapped in a blanket on a stretcher.

The bodies were recovered and transferred to a cemetery in Tabriz, as reported by state TV. Mohammad Nami, head of Iran's crisis management agency, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency that all of the bodies were identifiable, negating the need for DNA examinations. He also revealed that Ayatollah Al-e Hashem survived for an hour after the crash and managed to contact the head of the president's office before he died.

Who has succeeded Raisi as president?

Mohammad Mokhber, Ebrahim Raisi's deputy, has been named acting president

Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed that Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber has been appointed acting president, in accordance with Article 131 of Iran's constitution. This article stipulates that the acting president, along with the heads of parliament and the judiciary, will oversee an election for a new president within a maximum of 50 days.

Additionally, Iran's veteran nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, Ali Baqeri Kani, has been named acting foreign minister, according to a government spokesman. Kani can serve in this role for a maximum of three months before a permanent replacement must be nominated and approved by parliament.