20-5-2024 (TEHRAN) Hopes are rapidly diminishing that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage survived after their helicopter crashed in a remote mountainous region, with the wreckage located but no signs of life detected, an Iranian official stated on Saturday.
“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burnt in the crash…unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” the official told Reuters grimly.
Iranian state television echoed the dire assessment, reporting “no sign” of any survivors from the Presidential flight that went missing on Friday amid treacherous weather conditions in northwestern Iran.
“Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” the state broadcaster relayed.
The grim discovery capped an agonizing overnight search operation as rescue teams braved blizzards and rugged terrain to locate the downed aircraft’s wreckage in East Azerbaijan province early on Saturday morning.
“We can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good,” the head of Iran’s Red Crescent relief agency, Pirhossein Kolivand, had earlier told state TV as the hunt narrowed.
A Turkish drone first spotted signs of heat suspected to be the wreckage, providing coordinates to Iranian authorities, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported.
The Islamic Republic had been plunged into uncertainty on Friday as search teams fanned out across the fog-shrouded mountains after the helicopter carrying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others went missing in an “accident”, according to state media reports.
As fears mounted for the 63-year-old ultra-conservative leader, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the nation “not to worry” about the country’s leadership while praying for the President’s “safe return”.
“We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” Khamenei said in a televised address as Muslims offered prayers.
Condolences and offers of assistance poured in from abroad, including regional rivals like Saudi Arabia, as well as Russia which dispatched a search and rescue team overnight. The EU also activated emergency mapping services.
The President’s convoy of three helicopters had been in the region for Raisi to inaugurate a controversial dam project with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev when the lead aircraft went down on Friday afternoon.
“The harsh weather conditions and heavy fog have made it difficult for the rescue teams to reach the accident site,” state TV said initially as the massive search began.
With scant official information emerging, the authorities urged citizens to rely only on state outlets and not heed “hostile” foreign media as the suspense built into the night.
At one stage, aerial operations were suspended due to the hazardous conditions, with elite Revolutionary Guards commandos and police officers deployed on foot to scour the rugged Dizmar protected forest area near Varzaghan town where the crash took place.
Even well into Saturday, there were no confirmed reports on casualties or Raisi’s condition as the cause of the crash remained a mystery.
The President had visited the sensitive border region amid high regional tensions following the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
In a speech after the dam inauguration, Raisi had reaffirmed Iran’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause – “the first issue of the Muslim world” according to Tehran.
The militant Palestinian group Hamas said it stood in “full solidarity” with Iran’s leadership during the crisis.
