The body of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has been recovered, state media confirmed.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also killed in Sunday’s crash, along with six others. The helicopter, one of three traveling in a convoy, crashed in heavy fog in the north of the country.
Among the other passengers who perished were Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi, head of the president’s security team; co-pilots Col. Mohsen Daryanush and Col. Seyyed Taher Mostafavi; and technician Maj. Behrouz Qadimi. The Friday Imam of Tabriz, Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, who was also on board, survived for an hour after the crash and tried to make contact with the president’s office, according to the head of Iran’s Crisis Management Agency.
Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz in the northwest of Iran after returning from a dam opening ceremony on the Azerbaijan border where he had been meeting President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
Iran has declared five days of public mourning after the tragedy.
Raisi’s funeral, along with those of the others, will take place tomorrow Tuesday in Tabriz, and for the next seven days, cultural activities have been canceled.
Mohammad Mokhber has been appointed acting president, and Bagheri Kani, who was deputy foreign minister, is now the foreign minister.
The cause of the helicopter crash remains unclear, but Russia, Tehran’s close ally, has offered its help with the investigation.
