By Ken Afor
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, reportedly crashed while navigating mountainous terrain in heavy fog on Sunday.
The incident occurred as they were returning from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan.
An official disclosed that the lives of Raisi and the Foreign Minister were “at risk following the helicopter crash,” as reported by Reuters.
“We are still hopeful, but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the state news agency IRNA, the bad weather was complicating rescue efforts. It was reported that state television halted all regular programming to broadcast prayers for Raisi across the country.
Meanwhile, the interior minister, Ahmed Vahidi, while briefing journalists, disclosed that one of the helicopters in a group of three had experienced a hard landing. He noted that officials were still gathering details and did not have a full report on the situation at that time.
Prior to the helicopter issue, Raisi had been visiting the Azerbaijan border region to ceremonially mark the opening of the Qiz-Qalaisi Dam – a joint infrastructure project between Iran and Azerbaijan. The dam’s inauguration was the scheduled purpose of the president’s trip to that area.
More details to follow…
