LIVE: Helicopter carrying Iranian president in ‘hard landing’

Iranian Presidential OfficeCopyright: Iranian Presidential Office

As we’ve been reporting, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was heading to the north-eastern city of Tabriz after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area when the incident occurred.

Raisi had been visiting the Iran-Azerbaijan border, where he opened the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

Here are some of the latest images we’ve received of his visit earlier today.

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We can bring you now some footage from Iranian state TV, which it claims shows rescuers on the way to the site of the reported helicopter crash.

There’s been several reports of bad weather affecting access to the site. Watch below:

We can bring you more comments now from Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who says “various rescue teams” are still searching for the helicopter.

Speaking to Iranian state television, Vahidi says that it will take “time to get to the location” of the crash site because of the “bad weather conditions and fog in the area”.

“Things are under control and rescue teams are doing their work. We hope it will be done as soon as possible,” he adds.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency has called on Iranians to pray for President Ebrahim Raisi, following reports a helicopter in a convoy he was travelling in has been involved in an accident.

Footage has also emerged on state television showing worshippers praying for the president’s health in the city of Mashhad.

Bad weather – with heavy fog and rain – is hampering the efforts of rescue teams to get to the accident site in the mountains in the north west of Iran.

The condition of those on board the helicopter remains unknown for now, with reports that no contact has yet been made.

President Raisi was travelling with the Iranian foreign minister in a convoy of three helicopters over the area – two of the helicopters are reported to have landed safely.

Raisi was elected president on his second attempt in 2021.

He is seen as a hardliner and regarded as a potential successor one day to Ayatollah Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockCopyright: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Raisi, 63, was elected president on his second attempt in 2021. He is seen as a hardline cleric and regarded as a potential successor one day to Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader since 1989.

In 2019, the Supreme Leader named him to the powerful position of head of the judiciary.

Raisi was also elected as deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member clerical body responsible for electing the next Supreme Leader.

A helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi has had to make a “hard landing” after it got in difficulties, state media reports.

The details of what happened remain unclear, but here’s a look at what we know so far:

• According to local media, Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz, in the north west of Iran, after returning from the border with Azerbaijan, where he opened the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams
• The helicopter was one of three travelling in a convoy
• Iran’s interior minister says rescuers are still trying to reach the site, but their efforts are being hampered by poor weather conditions
• A reporter with Fars news agency says visibility in the mountainous and wooded area was down to only about five meters. The area is about 50km to the north of Tabriz

• Ahmad Alirezabeigi, an Iranian MP for the city of Tabriz, says that emergency rescue workers have yet to find the location of the helicopter carrying the president
• He says two other two helicopters in the convoy landed safely

Stay with us for more.

We’re hearing now from Ahmad Alirezabeigi, an Iranian MP for the city of Tabriz, who says that emergency rescue workers have yet to find the location of the helicopter.

Heavy rain and fog has made the rescue difficult, he says, adding that of the three helicopters, two have safely landed.

Heavy fog has reduced visibility in the area where it is thought the aircraft may have landed or crashed, according to a local media outlet.

A reporter with Fars news agency, who is out with the emergency search units, says locating the aircraft will be difficult given the conditions.

He says the visibility in the mountainous and wooded area is down to only about five meters.

The area is about fifty kilometres to the north of Tabriz, the capital of the east Azerbaijan province, near the town of Varzeqan.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Iranian media says rescue teams are on their way to the site after reports that a helicopter in the convoy of three carrying President Raisi had had a rough landing over East Azerbaijan.

There are contradictory reports of what has happened, with no official confirmation of the incident as yet.

One semi-official Iranian news outlet, Tasnim, says that two of the helicopters reached their destination safely.

Tasnim says that the other helicopter was carrying not only Raisi on board but Iran’s foreign minister, too.

The Iranian news reports say that there is fog in the area where the incident is reported to have happened.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Hello and welcome to our live coverage. You’re joining us as reports are emerging that say a helicopter in a convoy carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been involved in an accident.

The exact details of what happened are still unclear, and it is not yet known whether Raisi was on board the helicopter.

The helicopter – one of three travelling in a convoy – made a “hard landing” after it got into difficulties in heavy fog in the north of the country, state media says.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said rescuers were still struggling to reach the scene of the accident due to the difficult weather conditions.

We’ll be bringing you the latest updates here as we get them, so stay with us.