Iran's president, foreign minister and others die in helicopter crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and others were found dead Monday at the site of a helicopter crash after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country's northwest, state media reported.

State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash Sunday in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. With Raisi were Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province and other officials, as well as three crew members, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Turkish authorities early Monday released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they "suspected to be wreckage of a helicopter." The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometres south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.

Footage released by IRNA showed what it described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range.

Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: "There it is, we found it." Shortly after, state TV in an on-screen scrolling text said: "There is no sign of life from people on board."

- AP

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