ReutersRaisi’s helicopter earlier than the crash
NOS Information•yesterday, 3:48 PM•Adjusted yesterday, 11:22 PM
In Iran there are fears for the lifetime of President Ebrahim Raisi. His helicopter crashed in unhealthy climate in an inhospitable space. A neighborhood authorities official makes use of the phrase crash. The seek for the helicopter has been happening for hours.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards informed native media that that they had detected a sign from the machine, permitting them to find out its location. Rescue employees are mentioned to be about two kilometers from the plane. State tv beforehand mentioned that emergency providers had already reached the helicopter, however the Crimson Crescent refuted this.
Contact with occupants
Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was additionally on the helicopter, as have been seven others. A senior official informed Iranian state tv that there had been a number of contacts with two passengers after the accident.
One other official earlier informed Reuters: “We’re nonetheless hopeful, however the info popping out of the world may be very worrying.” The president’s Instagram channel, amongst different issues, requires prayer.
ReutersState tv broadcasts pictures of the prayers.
Raisi flew in a convoy of three helicopters. He was coming back from Azerbaijan, the place he had opened a collectively constructed dam on a border river. His helicopter got here down within the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, near the border with Azerbaijan. The opposite two plane are mentioned to have landed safely.
On the request of Iran, the European Fee deployed a satellite tv for pc to map the world. Turkey and Russia are sending dozens of specialists to the mountain space and Azerbaijan and Iraq, amongst others, have additionally supplied assist. Iran’s Crimson Crescent says 65 rescue groups are looking for the airplane.
The seek for the helicopter is made harder by the climate situations. It’s raining closely and there’s a thick fog:
Rescuers seek for the helicopter
63-year-old Ebrahim Raisi has been president of Iran since 2021. He succeeded Hassan Rouhani and was beforehand the nation’s highest decide. He is called a hardliner and veteran of the Iranian regime. Raisi can also be seen as a protégé and potential successor to Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei requires prayers for the “honorable president” and the opposite officers who have been on board. On the identical time, he says that residents mustn’t fear about “disruptions” in Iran. Based on him, nothing will change within the nation.
A particular safety council met in Tehran this night because of the state of affairs surrounding the president. Based on the structure, when Raisi dies, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will quickly take over his duties. New elections would then need to be referred to as inside fifty days.
There may be additionally pleasure on social media in regards to the potential loss of life of the president:
The conservative Raisi is held partly accountable by human rights organizations for the execution of hundreds of political prisoners in 1988, on the finish of the warfare between Iran and Iraq. He was a member of the so-called ‘committee of loss of life’, wherein he and three different judges decided who needs to be executed. Raisi was due to this fact nicknamed “the butcher of Tehran”.
Underneath his presidency, mass protests following the loss of life of Mahsa Amini in 2022 have been violently suppressed. He mentioned Iran should deal “resolutely” with “those that oppose the nation’s safety and tranquility.” Greater than 500 demonstrators have been killed within the protests and hundreds of individuals ended up in jail.
Iran is concerned within the warfare in Gaza via its assist for Hamas. Final month, Iran attacked Israel with lots of of missiles and drones in retaliation for the bombing of the Iranian embassy grounds in Damascus, which killed a senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Virtually the entire Iranian missiles and drones have been intercepted by Israel and allies.