A helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was involved in “an accident” amid poor weather conditions on Sunday, state media reported, with a search underway and no news yet on his condition.
An accident happened to the helicopter carrying the president” in the Jofa region of the western province of East Azerbaijan, state television said.
Rescue team were headed to the area to locate him and other officials, state media in the Islamic republic reported, adding that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian may also have been aboard the aircraft.
“The harsh weather conditions and heavy fog have made it difficult for the rescue teams to reach the accident site,” state TV said in an on-screen news alert.
An Iranian official told Reuters that the lives of Raisi and Amirabdollahian were “at risk following the helicopter crash”.
“We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The accident happened in the mountainous forest area of Dizmar near the town of Varzaghan, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Raisi, 63, was visiting the province on Sunday where he inaugurated a dam project together with his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliev, on the border between the two countries.
His convoy included three helicopters, and the other two had “reached their destination safely,” according to Tasnim news agency.
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