Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died after his chopper crashed while flying over mountains in East Azerbaijan province amid heavy fog, Iran news media has said.
"President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash," a senior Iranian official told news agency Reuters.
State media shared the first images from the site of the crash, almost 16 hours after the accident occurred, showing the wreckage of the aircraft at a mountain peak. The cause of the crash is not known yet, but such crashes are not uncommon in Iran.
As Iranians took to the streets and offered prayers for their president, rescuers battled intense fog and icy weather to reach the site of the crash. The search team sifted through the difficult terrain to locate the wreckage
“With the discovery of the crash site, no signs of life have been detected among the helicopter's passengers,” the head of Iran's Red Crescent, Pirhossein Kolivand, told state TV.
After the chopper took off, the Iranian state media shared a grab from a video showing President Ebrahim Raisi on board the helicopter in the Jolfa region of the western province of East Azerbaijan.
Featured Video Of The Day
INDIA's Bihar Ally Mukesh Sahani's Father Brutally Murdered At Home
Iran Registers Presidential Candidates For Early Vote After Raisi's Death US To Boycott UN Tribute To Iran President Killed In Chopper Crash: Report Opinion: Opinion | Iran President Raisi, A Parable For The Times "Someone Must Have Doubted...": Doctor On Trainee IAS Officer's Disability Claim Trump's Vice President Pick Reveals How His Hindu Wife Helped Him Trainee IAS Officer Puja Khedkar Called Cops Home, Spoke For 2 Hours Jaro Education Works Closely With Senior Executives From Corporates To Build Future Leaders "He'll Never Come Home": Captain Thapa, Killed In J&K Encounter, Remembered Engineer Stole NEET Question Paper From Exam Body's Trunk, Arrested By CBI Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.