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 dangerous 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 instructed native media that that they had detected a sign from the gadget, permitting them to find out its location. Rescue employees are stated to be about two kilometers from the plane. State tv beforehand stated that emergency companies had already reached the helicopter, however the Pink Crescent refuted this.
Contact with occupants
Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was additionally on the helicopter, as have been seven others. A senior official instructed Iranian state tv that there had been a number of contacts with two passengers after the accident.
One other official earlier instructed Reuters: “We’re nonetheless hopeful, however the data popping out of the realm may be very worrying.” The president’s Instagram channel, amongst different issues, requires prayer.
ReutersState tv broadcasts photos 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 stated to have landed safely.
On the request of Iran, the European Fee deployed a satellite tv for pc to map the realm. Turkey and Russia are sending dozens of specialists to the mountain space and Azerbaijan and Iraq, amongst others, have additionally provided assist. Iran’s Pink Crescent says 65 rescue groups are looking for the airplane.
The seek for the helicopter is made tougher 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 choose. He is called a hardliner and veteran of the Iranian regime. Raisi can 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 shouldn’t fear about “disruptions” in Iran. In line with him, nothing will change within the nation.
A particular safety council met in Tehran this night as a result of scenario surrounding the president. In line with the structure, when Raisi dies, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will quickly take over his duties. New elections would then must be known as inside fifty days.
There’s additionally pleasure on social media concerning the potential dying of the president:
The conservative Raisi is held partly accountable by human rights organizations for the execution of 1000’s of political prisoners in 1988, on the finish of the battle between Iran and Iraq. He was a member of the so-called ‘committee of dying’, during which he and three different judges decided who ought to be executed. Raisi was subsequently nicknamed “the butcher of Tehran”.
Beneath his presidency, mass protests following the dying of Mahsa Amini in 2022 have been violently suppressed. He stated 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 1000’s of individuals ended up in jail.
Iran is concerned within the battle in Gaza by way of its help for Hamas. Final month, Iran attacked Israel with tons 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.
