Iran Chief of Staff orders investigation into President Raisi helicopter crash
Iranian Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the helicopter crash that martyred Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday.
Bagheri ordered a high-ranking committee to “launch an investigation into the cause of the president’s helicopter crash”, the ISNA news agency reported hours after it was revealed that the Iranian President did not survive the crash.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and accompanying officials have passed away in the tragic helicopter crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province, according to an official statement by Iranian state media.
After locating the helicopter carrying the Iranian President and accompanying officials on the morning of May 20, Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS) issued a preliminary statement noting that there was “no sign of life” found near the wreckage locations.
This announcement came over 16 hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps reported they had lost contact with the helicopter carrying the officials. Since then, at least 73 rapid response and rescue teams from the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan, and West Azarbaijan were involved in the search and rescue operations led by the Iranian RCS.
According to Iranian state media, the President’s helicopter crashed against a mountaintop in the Varzaqan region on May 19 while returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran’s border with the Azerbaijan Republic. Iranian state TV mentioned that the helicopter was one of three carrying Raisi and his accompanying delegation of senior officials, which also included Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the Friday Prayer Imam of Tabriz, among other officials.
