The Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and other officials are missing after a helicopter crashed yesterday in a mountainous border region during heavy fog.
The Bell 212 civilian aircraft went down between Jolfa and Varzaqan, a region on the border of Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan, around 600km (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran.
It was carrying Raisi, 63, and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The aircraft suffered what state TV called a “hard landing” after it got into difficulty during heavy fog following a visit with the Azerbaijani president to discuss an infrastructure project over the Aras River, which separates Iran and Nakhchivan.
“We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” an Iranian official said. He added that Raisi’s life was “at risk”.
Forty rescue teams including Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, ambulances, surgeons, drones and dogs were scrambled to locate the helicopter, which was hampered by rain, fog and dark conditions.
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