“No sign of life” has been found at the helicopter crash site in northwest Iran, sparking fears that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and all passengers have not survived.
“Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” state TV reported.
“No signs of the helicopter’s occupants being alive were observed,” Iran’s Crescent Society chief added.
There has been no official confirmation from the Iranian government.
The helicopter, carrying the president and his foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, crashed on Sunday while crossing mountainous terrain in heavy fog.
The accident sparked a large-scale search that lasted more than 12 hours until the wreckage was found on Monday morning.
A Turkish drone identified two heat sources in the village of Tawal, which led to rescuers zeroing in on the new area and locating the wreckage.
Follow the latest updates below.
Live Reporting Related Stories 20 May 2024 • 5:07am
5:06AM
Breaking: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died, reports Mehr Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have died, Iran’s Mehr news agency has reported.
4:15AM
‘No sign’ of life at crash site Iran’s state TV said on Monday there was “no sign” of life at the helicopter crash.
“Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” state TV reported.
“Upon discovering the location of the crashed helicopter, no signs of the helicopter’s occupants being alive were observed,” Iran’s Crescent Society chief added.
The Iranian government has not yet released an official statement.
3:48AM
Conditions of leaders and passengers still unknown Commander of the Ashura Corps of the IRGC said: “At the moment, nothing can be confirmed about the fate of the helicopter and its passengers.
“We will reach the helicopter in a few minutes.”
Meanwhile, a state TV presenter said: “We are not hearing good news.”
3:40AM
First vision from the moment the helicopter was found 3:32AM
‘Situation is not good’, says Iran Red Crescent Society chief The conditions of the president and foreign minister are still unknown, but Iran’s Red Crescent Society chief said “the situation is not good”.
“Let us reach it. The situation is not good,” the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state TV when asked about the condition of the helicopter.
3:21AM
Breaking: Helicopter found The helicopter has been found and teams are heading towards the area.
“We found the helicopter. We are 2kms away. I can see it,” the head of Iran’s emergency said.
3:20AM
Breaking: Rescue crews reach crash site Rescue teams have now reportedly reached the helicopter crash site.
We will keep bringing you the latest developments.
3:17AM
Pictured: Brutal conditions for rescuers Footage from the Turkish drone Akinci shows the type of mountainous terrain and foggy conditions that rescue teams are up against.
Thick fog blankets the search area and while morning has broken, visibility is still an issue.
3:07AM
China ‘deeply concerned’ about crash China said on Monday it was “deeply concerned” about the helicopter crash.
“The Chinese side is deeply concerned about the hard landing of the helicopter in which President Raisi was travelling, and we wish President Raisi and the crew on board (are) safe and sound,” state broadcaster CCTV quoted Beijing’s foreign ministry as saying.
It added that China would “provide all necessary support and assistance to the Iranian side in its rescue efforts”.
2:58AM
People reach coordinates of ‘heat source’ but find no sign of helicopter Ordinary people in the area have reached the coordinates provided by the Turkish drone and have reported no signs of the helicopter, Fars news agency reported.
Search and rescue teams are struggling to reach the area.
As of now, there’s no update regarding the arrival of the official rescue teams at the specified coordinates.
Morning has broken, bringing improved visibility to rescue teams.
2:57AM
Russian rescue teams leave for Tabriz The first Russian rescue aircraft has departed for Tabriz to help in the search for the helicopter.
An advisor to Putin announced earlier the dispatch of two planes with special helicopters, as well as 50 professional mountain rescuers whom are set to arrive in Tabriz in the next few hours.
2:30AM
Rescue teams head towards the ‘heat source’ Following the detection of two heat sources by a Turkish drone in Tawal village, Iran’s Red Crescent rescue teams are now heading towards the “possible landing site of the helicopter carrying the president and his team”.
“Currently, a total of 73 rescue teams are deployed in the search area,” Iran’s Red Crescent said.
“Among them, 23 teams belong to the Red Crescent, equipped with detector dogs and advanced equipment, dispatched from Tehran and neighbouring provinces.
“Despite the challenging weather conditions with fog and rain, the search operation continues unabated.”
An ambulance and other vehicles drive on a foggy road as the search to find the crash site continues Credit: Reuters 2:11AM
Authorities release drone footage of fire Turkish authorities have released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter”.
Iranian rescuers have rushed to the site, state TV reported. The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border.
Akinci UAV identifies source of heat suspected to be wreckage of helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi and shares its coordinates with Iranian authorities pic.twitter.com/0tZtMc5oaP
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) May 20, 2024 2:02AM
Welcome to today’s live blog We will continue to bring you the latest on the helicopter crash.
Rescue teams are zeroing in on a new search area after a Turkish drone detected a heat source suspected to be the wreckage.
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