(Dan Tri) – Chief of staff of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has revealed new details about the helicopter crash last weekend.
Rescue team works at the scene of the helicopter crash carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (Photo: Reuters).
Gholam Hossein Esmaili, chief of staff of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said he traveled on one of three helicopters carrying a delegation of Iranian officials back from the dam inauguration ceremony on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan on May 19.
Of the three helicopters, the one carrying President Rasi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and 7 other people crashed, killing all on board.
Mr. Esmaili said that on the return flight, three helicopters took off at 13:00 local time `under normal weather conditions`.
`After 45 minutes of flight, the pilot on the helicopter carrying President Raisi, who directed the entire convoy of 3 helicopters, asked the remaining 2 helicopters to increase altitude to avoid nearby clouds. However, the helicopter carrying the president
About 30 seconds after flying above the clouds, Esmaili said his pilot noticed the helicopter in the middle was gone.
Iran found the remains of the helicopter carrying President Raisi
Mr. Esmaili said multiple attempts were made to contact the presidential helicopter via radio devices, before their helicopter continued its flight and landed at a nearby copper mine.
Esmaili said Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and the head of the presidential protection unit, who were on the helicopter with President Raisi, did not answer repeated calls after the helicopter went missing.
`The pilots of the remaining two helicopters contacted Captain Mostafavi, who is in charge of the presidential helicopter,` Mr. Esmaili added.
Cleric Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, who was on the flight with President Raisi, managed to contact the president’s office by phone before his death.
Mr. Esmaili said Rabbi Al-Hashem was still alive at least three hours after the accident and was able to speak to Iranian officials several times before his death.
According to Mr. Esmaili, after they found the location of the crashed helicopter, the condition of the bodies of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Abdollahian and others showed that they `died immediately` when the accident occurred.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahdi Safari also confirmed that cleric Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem even contacted him by phone twice after the helicopter crashed.
However, when rescuers reached the scene, all 9 people on the helicopter, including Rabbi Al-Hashem, were dead.
Iran’s state news agency said the helicopter carrying the president crashed due to a `technical problem`.
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