Just In: Iran’s President Dies In Helicopter Crash.

It has emerged that no survivors in the helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi that was involved in “an accident” amid poor weather conditions on Sunday, state media has confirmed Monday morning.

Despite search efforts by rescue team there is no news yet on his condition, state media said.

Raiasi, born in 1960 in northeast Iran’s holy city of Mashhad,  rose early to high office. Aged just 20, in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed monarchy, he was named Prosecutor-General of Karaj next to Tehran.

He served as Tehran’s prosecutor-general from 1989 to 1994, deputy chief of the Judicial Authority for a decade from 2004, and then national prosecutor-general in 2014.

His black turban signifies direct descent from Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, and he holds the religious title of “hojatoleslam” — literally “proof of Islam” — one rank below that of ayatollah in the Shiite clerical hierarchy.

Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Malik Rahmeti, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim of Tabriz province were also on board the helicopter.

“An accident happened to the helicopter carrying the president” in the Jofa region of the western province of East Azerbaijan, state television said.

Rescue team were headed to the area to locate him and other officials, state media in the Islamic republic reported, adding that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian may also have been aboard the jet.    

While monitoring the development the state media confirmed Rescue Team in Search Efforts.

“The harsh weather conditions and heavy fog have made it difficult for the rescue teams to reach the accident site,” state TV said in an on-screen news alert.

The accident happened in the mountainous forest area of Dizmar near the town of Varzaghan, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Confirming the death of the president, the Iranian Red Crescent Society announced early Monday that they had found the location of the wreckage of President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter after it was detected by a Turkish Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

“The location of the President’s helicopter has been found. Search and rescue teams approached the place where the accident occurred,” the agency said.

Speaking to local media, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said that two kilometers are left to reach the area where the wreckage is located.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA also confirmed the finding.

The news was posted on IRNA’s Telegram account.

After the helicopter carrying Raisi crashed, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense assigned an Akinci UAV and a Cougar type helicopter with night vision capabilities to participate in search activities.

President Raisi had attended the inauguration ceremony for a dam on the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday by helicopter.

Iranian state television reported that the accident occurred when Raisi’s helicopter made a hard landing while returning from the region.

Search and rescue teams say that work continues with difficulty due to adverse weather conditions.(With Additional Reports from agencies)source: