The Iranian presidency reveals new details in a major helicopter crash

The head of the Iranian presidential office, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, revealed new details about the helicopter crash that was carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and his accompanying delegation, last Sunday in East Azerbaijan. Ismaili said in an interview with Iranian television, that after the inauguration ceremony of the Qala Qiz border dam shared with Azerbaijan, we headed to the city of Tabriz in East Azerbaijan Province, northwest of Iran, in clear weather, but in the middle of the road we encountered a patch of clouds, where the pilot of the helicopter that was carrying the president ordered an increase in altitude when he reached those clouds, but after increasing the altitude there was no trace of president's Raisi helicopter. He added that from the moment the interruption of radio communication was announced, we made phone calls with the President's personal guard, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian, the Imam of Tabriz Friday, and the Governor of Tabriz, but without receiving any response from them. Ismaili added that the crew members of our flight also said that they had made a call on the mobile phone of the pilot, Captain Mustafawi, but instead of Captain Mustafawi, Al Hashem answered, saying, 'I am not well and we have fallen into the valley.' Ismaili said: Then I called Al Hashem again and asked him where are you? He responded by saying, "I don't know...I'm among the trees." So I asked him how the rest of them were doing? Do you see them? Al Hashem said, "I don't see anyone and I'm alone and I don't know what happened and there's no one around me." 'Then, it immediately became clear to us that Raisi's helicopter had been involved in an accident, and we set our mission to quickly reach the accident site and begin rescue and relief operations,' Ismaili said. Ismaili concluded by saying, 'Later we learned that the other passengers of the helicopter were martyred immediately,' explaining that the condition of the bodies indicates that the helicopter personnel were martyred immediately after th e accident occurred. Yesterday, Tuesday, the cities of Tabriz, Tehran and Qom witnessed popular and official funeral ceremonies for the late President Ibrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and their companions before the late president was laid to rest. The Iranian presidency announced on Monday morning that Raisi, Abdullahian, and other officials were killed after their helicopter crashed during their return from the 'Khoda Afrin' area on the common border with Azerbaijan towards the city of Tabriz. Source: National Iraqi News Agency