President Ebrahim Raisi’s Helicopter Located by IRCS Rescue Teams

Tehran, The Gulf Observer: The president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), Pir-Hossein Kolivand, has confirmed that rescue and search teams have identified the wreckage of President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter, which crashed on Sunday.

Kolivand announced on Monday morning that teams have arrived at the crash site, located in Tawal village. He described the situation as dire, stating, “the condition is not good.”

He added that 73 rescue teams, equipped with advanced and specialized equipment, are present in the search area. The IRCS National Emergency Management Headquarters previously announced that rescue teams had been dispatched to two hot spots identified by a Turkish drone. Turkey’s high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, named Akinji, detected a heat source believed to be the wreckage.

A commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps confirmed that the heat source likely corresponds to the crash site. Field sources also verified that the precise geographical coordinates of the helicopter carrying President Raisi were determined through aerial monitoring.

Despite challenging weather conditions, including fog and rain, rescuers have worked tirelessly to locate the missing helicopter. Teams, including armed forces, have combed the rocky and hilly terrain near the city of Varzaqan in East Azarbaijan province.

The IRCS had earlier mobilized 46 rapid response and rescue teams from East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan, and West Azarbaijan provinces to aid in the search and rescue operation. President Raisi was returning with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several others from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran’s border with the Azerbaijan Republic when their helicopter crashed upon landing in the Varzaqan region.