Iranian President Raisi and the officials accompanying him are feared dead after the Red Crescent says it has found “no signs of the helicopter’s occupants being alive” at the crash site.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent said the rescue teams have reached the site of the crash. And in minutes, the rescue teams are going to reach the wreckage of the helicopter as well.
So now, we are receiving the videos from the rescue teams. They’re saying that the entire cabin of the helicopter is significantly damaged and burned. And they say that as of now, there are no signs of survivors on the site.
There’s a still image circulating right now on Iranian websites and Telegram channels showing some kind of a wreckage on a mountainous area.
According to the head of the Red Crescent, they need 2km [1.2 miles] to reach that place and then we probably will have the news of what happened.
This is the first time Iran is going through a situation in which a president is in a helicopter – and there’s a lot of uncertainty. They have never seen something similar with the president and the foreign minister disappearing.
This is the main focus of the Iranian public right now regardless of the differences in the Iranian establishment, as well as the people, given the past experiences with the demonstrations.
Everyone is looking for the president. Even foreign countries are coming to help with the search with the Turks sending their drones and the Russians sending their equipment.
Everyone is trying to show support and provide help as we saw from the Turks and the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, Qataris and the Iraqis. They have all shown solidarity with the Iranian establishment. It gives a kind of feeling of solidarity among the countries in the region.
Mehr News Agency says Raisi, Amirabdollahian killed in crash
The semi-official news agency reports that the Iranian president, foreign minister and other occupants of the helicopter, including East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, have been “martyred” (killed).
There is still no official confirmation that Raisi is dead, but medics have said that they found “no signs” of life at the crash site.