O This Sunday, the Iranian Red Crescent denied information provided by state television IRNA that the helicopter carrying the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, had been found.
According to the secretary general of the Red Crescent, Yaqub Soleimani, cited by Sky News, the helicopter was not found and only reached the coordinates where the crash occurred.
IRNA had reported that the aircraft had been found several hours after it was reported to have made a “forced landing” following a visit to Azerbaijan.
The Iranian Army also confirmed that it had located the “exact” position of the helicopter in which the Iranian president was traveling thanks to a signal from the aircraft and another from the cell phone of one of the crew members.
“The exact location of the helicopter crash has been identified,” said the commander of the Army in East Azerbaijan, General Asghar Abbasqolizadeh, quoted by IRNA.
“Now, we are going with all military forces to the area and hope to give good news”he added.
The incident with the device following Ebrahim Raisi occurred near the city of Jolfa, around 600 km northwest of the capital Tehran.
The searches were initially carried out by 16 rescue teams. However, according to Iranian emergency services, there are now several dozen teams engaged. Aerial searches were hampered by bad weather and heavy fog.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, spoke about the incident and asked citizens to “pray for the health” of the passengers.
“We hope that Almighty God returns the respected and honorable president and his companions to the arms of the nation. Everyone must pray for the health of this group of servants”he said, quoted by the BBC.
“The people of Iran should not worry, there will be no disruption to the country’s work,” he added.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, today appealed to Iranians “not to worry” as the search continues for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter, which crashed in the northwest of the country.
Lusa | 19:29 – 05/19/2024
Among the other authorities on board the helicopter were the governor of the province of East Azerbaijan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
An Iranian source had told the Reuters news agency that contact was established with a passenger and a crew member “on several occasions”. “It suggests that there may be survivors and that they may be very close to the crash site, which, again, would be a moment of hope.”he added.
Previously, a senior Iranian government official, who did not want to be identified, said, even before the helicopter was found, that the lives of the president and foreign minister were “at risk following the helicopter crash.”
The European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, announced that, “following a request for assistance from Iran”, the European Union will activate the Copernicus mapping system, “taking into account the helicopter crash allegedly carrying the president of Iran and his foreign minister”.
Upon Iranian request for assistance we are activating the 🇪🇺’s @CopernicusEMS rapid response mapping service in view of to the helicopter accident reportedly carrying the President of #Iran and its foreign minister. #EUSolidarity
— Janez Lenarčič (@JanezLenarcic) May 19, 2024
Raisi had been in Azerbaijan this Sunday morning to inaugurate a dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in what is the third dam built by the two countries on the Aras River.
You can see images from the search operation in the gallery above..
Read Also: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president makes “forced landing”
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2564031/presidente-do-irao-continua-desaparecido-apos-acidente-o-que-se-sabe
