Iran’s hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi was killed after a helicopter carrying the reviled leader known as the “Butcher of Tehran” crashed in a remote region of the country Sunday, state media reported.
Raisi, 63, his foreign minister and other passengers were found dead after the rescuers discovered the helicopter crash site early Monday morning.
State news agency, Mehr, reported “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred.”
A senior Iranian official also told Reuters that Raisi was killed in the wreck after state media reported Monday morning there was “no sign of life” at the crash site.
“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” the senior Iranian official told Reuters.
Raisi’s helicopter was found around dawn on Monday morning in a mountainous area about 12 hours after it went down in hazardous weather.
Raisi was returning home with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and local state officials through heavy clouds and dense fog after traveling to neighboring country Azerbaijan to open a new dam with President Ilham Aliyev.
State media initially reported the aircraft had experienced a “hard landing” and that initial rescue efforts were stymied due to severe wind and fog and the region’s rugged, unforgiving terrain.
Raisi was flying a US-made Bell 212 helicopter at the time of the crash, state media reported.
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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