The initial report on the circumstances of the recent helicopter crash that lost the lives of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions was made public by the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces on Thursday.
A top inquiry committee made up of specialists, experts, and technicians arrived at the scene early on Monday morning in the wake of the disaster, according to a report from Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, which was cited by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The assessment stated that the helicopter had not diverted from the flight path and had continued on its intended track the entire way.
The investigation stated that the pilot of the crashed helicopter had communicated with the other two aircraft in the president’s convoy around fifteen minutes before the tragedy.
According to the statement, no bullets or similar items are found remaining on the wreckage of the crashed helicopter.
It reported that the helicopter had caught flames after hitting the mountain.
“Complications of the region, fog and low temperature” had caused the search and rescue operations to continue until nightfall and then throughout the night, the report said, adding, “At 5:00 a.m. local time on Monday (0130 GMT), with the assistance of drones, the exact location of the incident was identified.”
It also stated that no suspicious issues had come up in the watchtower’s conversations with the flying crew.
It claimed that further investigations could provide more details.
On Sunday, Raisi’s chopper crashed in a hilly terrain while he and his companions were travelling to the province of East Azerbaijan.
In addition, Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader to East Azarbaijan, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were in the chopper.
On Thursday, Raisi was buried in his hometown of Mashhad, in the northeastern city of the sacred shrine of Imam Reza.
