A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials suffered a crash in Jolfa in northwestern Iran on Sunday, a news report said.
It was earlier reported that the helicopter had made a “hard landing”, but news agency IRNA has now reported that the helicopter “suffered a crash with no information available yet on potential injuries or damage”.
The incident reportedly occurred as a result of dense fog in the region.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has confirmed that a helicopter carrying the president made a hard landing in Jolfa, nearly 600 km away from Tehran, in East Azarbaijan, according to Press TV.
There were three helicopters in this convoy, two of which were carrying ministers and officials, and they arrived at their destination safely.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, were travelling with Raisi in the helicopter, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Authorities said bad weather conditions have made it difficult for rescue teams from the Iranian Red Crescent Society to reach the area where the incident happened, Press TV reported. Drone units are also assisting with the emergency operation.
Raisi was in Azerbaijan early on May 19 to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, The Associated Press reported, The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River.
The state TV aired images which showed people praying at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, as well as in Qom and other locations across the country, for the well-being of the president.
The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.