FLASH
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The attention of all world media has turned to Iran, where the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and the Foreign Minister crashed. Iranian authorities confirmed on Monday morning that they were dead, after teams managed to find the helicopter that had crashed.
Raisi was heading to the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area, according to local media. Searches continued during the night to find the crashed helicopter.
Iranian state media Press TV and the semi-official Tasnim and Mehr news agencies reported that all on board were killed.
#BreakingNews : Iran President Raisi's helicopter made a hard landing, Ebrahim Raisi was on a visit to Azerbaijan #EbrahimRaisi #Iran #TerroristAttack .,,c pic.twitter.com/rDzpPi86Qa
— DFYF (@lzxvzh) May 19, 2024
Reuters also reported the president's death, citing a senior official.
"President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers on the helicopter were killed in the crash," the official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.
The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, said earlier Monday that there were no signs of life on board the helicopter.
The nine-person helicopter ran into trouble in dense fog while returning from a trip to the Iran-Azerbaijan border, Iranian officials said on Sunday.
The crash prompted an hours-long search and rescue operation with help from the European Union and Turkey, among others, but emergency crews were hampered by fog and plummeting temperatures.
Weather would have played a key role in the helicopter crash, military analyst says
"Weather played a key role in the downing of the helicopter that killed President Raisi," CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton said.
"You have fog, you have rain, you have cold temperatures. With temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius there is the possibility at higher altitudes of rotor blade freezing,” he said.
"There is a possibility of potential engine failure, so there are many things that could have contributed to the crash of the helicopter," he said among other things.
Leighton added that the plane's maintenance may also have played a role, pointing to how Iran has lived under sanctions and used old equipment to transport its top leaders.
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