There was "no sign" of life at the site where a helicopter carrying Iran President Ebrahim Raisi crashed in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, Iran state television reported on Monday.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also in the helicopter that crashed in a mountainous region amid bad weather conditions.
When the helicopter was found "there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet," state TV said.
Urging people to remain calm in a televised address, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assured that there would be no disruption in the country's governance.
There was "no sign" of life at the site where a helicopter carrying Iran President Ebrahim Raisi crashed in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, Iran state television reported on Monday.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also in the helicopter that crashed in a mountainous region amid bad weather conditions.
There was "no sign" of life among passengers of the helicopter, Iran's state television said. When the helicopter was found "there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet," state TV said.
Urging people to remain calm in a televised address, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assured that there would be no disruption in the country's governance.
Earlier a signal from the helicopter and a mobile phone of one crew member were detected at the crash site, according to reports from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander for East Azerbaijan province, where the crash occurred.
The crash site could not be located for approximately 10 hours after authorities lost contact with President Raisi’s helicopter. The helicopter went down in dense fog in East Azerbaijan Province on Sunday afternoon, hindering search efforts during the day.
Low temperatures in the nearest city, Tabriz, were in the low 50s, but temperatures in the remote mountains where the crash occurred likely dipped closer to freezing, complicating rescue operations further.
In response, the European Union activated its rapid response mapping service to assist in locating the Iranian leader. The European Commissioner for Crisis Management announced the activation, which provides highly accurate and continuously updated information on human settlements and populations through the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL).
Additionally, Iran requested assistance from Turkey in the search for President Raisi’s helicopter. Turkey's disaster and emergency management ministry has dispatched a night vision search and rescue helicopter, six vehicles, and 32 mountaineer search and rescue personnel.
President Raisi was returning from a visit to Azerbaijan when the helicopter crashed in bad weather. On board were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Hojjatoleslam Al Hashem (head of the Friday prayer in Tabriz), Malek Rahmati (governor of East Azerbaijan province), and several others.
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