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A helicopter in a convoy in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was traveling was involved in a “hard landing” on Sunday afternoon, according to Iranian state media.
Details about the incident remained unclear as of Sunday afternoon, although initial reports indicated the accident involved the president’s helicopter and foggy weather. According to the Iranian IRNA news agency, the helicopter crashed in a forest area between the villages of PirDavood and Uzi in northwestern Iran.
According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, emergency services were conducting searches to try and find the president’s helicopter, but the foggy weather in the area was complicating search efforts. Over 40 rescue teams were operating in the area as part of search efforts.
The reformist Ensaf News site cited an informed source as saying that the crash was “serious” and that there was a “high probability” of injuries in the accident.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist in East Azerbaijan and the Imam of Friday Prayer in Tabriz, were reportedly in the helicopter with Raisi.