Ebrahim Raisi: Known Facts About Helicopter Crash That Killed Iranian President

• The helicopter crash happened near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, May 19, amid poor weather conditions
• Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the rescue operation took long due to fog and bad weather conditions
• Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was pronounced dead alongside eight other individuals on Monday, May 20

According to Iranian media, President Ebrahim Raisi and eight other passengers have been confirmed dead following a helicopter crash on Sunday, May 19.

What is known about Ebrahim Raisi's chopper crash

A helicopter carrying Raisi suffered a “hard landing” near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, May 19, amid poor weather conditions in the region.

According to Aljazeera, Iran's Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand said rescue teams had located the helicopter and were heading to the site on Monday morning, May 20.

Hours later, Koolivand announced that the helicopter's wreckage, which had been carrying Raisi and several other officials, had been located on the slope of a hill in the Varzaghan region of East Azerbaijan province.

The head of the Red Crescent Society said there was no sign of life, as the helicopter had completely burned out during the crash.

"The rescue forces reached the remains of the helicopter. Upon discovering the location of the crashed helicopter, no signs of the helicopter's occupants being alive were observed," Kolivand said," he said.

Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi described the accident as a "hard landing" due to the poor weather conditions at the time of the incident.

According to Tasnim News Agency, the individuals who were with the president inside the helicopter managed to make an emergency call.

Who was with Ebrahim Raisi in chopper crash?

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the representative of the Iranian supreme leader to the province, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, were reported to have been in the same helicopter with President Raisi.

The call increased hopes that the incident could be concluded “without fatalities.”

Raisi's convoy included three helicopters, with two landing safely in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

Why did the rescue operations take long?

According to Iranian media outlets, Interior Minister Vahidi disclosed that drones and search dogs were dispatched to the incident location.

He however added that the rescue operation would take long due to fog and bad weather conditions which made it hard to reach the area of the incident.

Features of the plane that killed Raisi

Reuters has reported that Raisi and his team travelled in a Bell 212 helicopter, the civilian version of the ubiquitous Vietnam War-era UH-1N "Twin Huey".

The helicopters are widely used globally by both governments and private operators.

Bell Helicopter Inc. manufactures the chopper, which was first developed for the Canadian military in the late 1960s to upgrade the original UH-1 Iroquois.

The new design uses two turboshaft engines instead of one, giving it greater carrying capacity.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke