The helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others in May was caused by harsh weather and atmospheric conditions, Iranian state television reported on Sunday.
The final report of the Supreme Council of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said the main cause of the helicopter crash was the region’s complex weather conditions in spring, state television reported.
The report also noted the sudden appearance of a thick mass of fog rising upwards as the helicopter collided with the mountain.
According to the report, no signs of sabotage were found in any parts or systems.
Raisi died along with seven others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60, in the crash in a remote mountainous region of northwestern Iran. The helicopter was also carrying the governor of East Azerbaijan province, as well as other officials and bodyguards, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said at the time of the crash.
Iranian Red Crescent Society / Handout / Anadolu via Getty Images
Turkish authorities released drone video showing a heat signature at a wilderness site they “suspect is a helicopter wreck.” Coordinates given in the video place the fire about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of the Azerbaijan-Iran border, on the side of a steep, forested mountain.
Raisi, a hardliner, was seen as a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some analysts believed he might even replace the octogenarian supreme leader when the ayatollah died or resigned.
He is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, President Mohammad Ali Rajai was killed by a bomb blast in the chaotic days following the revolution.
