The weather at the time of the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi did not give any cause for concern, the late Iranian president's Chief of Staff Gholam Hossein Esmaili has claimed.
“The weather was clear, there was no weather condition to be worried about… After half an hour being in the air, prior to reaching the Sungun copper mine, there was a small patch of clouds,” he told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
The official was on board one of the three helicopters of Raisi's delegation.
When asked during the interview if there was any fog, he replied, as per a translation into English, "Not at all. There was fog on the ground, but not up in the air where we were advancing with the helicopters."
He acknowledged there was a "small patch of clouds above a cliff," and the pilot of the helicopter carrying the president gave instructions to gain altitude and continue moving above the clouds. Those on board the chopper with Esmaili did not feel any excess turbulence, and after ascending observed no more clouds. There had not been any forecasts mentioning disturbances in the weather, the Iranian official noted. He added that when they realized that their own pilot was making a U-turn, and questioned him, he replied that one of the helicopters was missing.
“Our pilot circled around the area a couple of times, but the area with the cloud patch was also invisible to us and it was too risky to enter that area. We failed several times to make any radio contact. We were forced to make a landing after 30 seconds at the Sungun copper mine to investigate,” the chief of staff is reported as saying.
According to Gholam Hossein Esmaili, throughout the flight they had continuous cell phone calls with the other convoy passengers. However, when they tried calling those on the presidential helicopter, they had no luck.
Finally, Ayatollah Ale-Hashem, the Friday imam of Tabriz, answered, saying he was “not feeling well,” and didn’t know what had happened, but described trees surrounding him.
Upon realization that the chopper had crash landed, a search team was formed, and immediate emergency help was requested. Ale-Hashem later also died.
Speculation immediately swirled whether besides bad weather conditions or possible technical troubles, an act of sabotage may have caused the crash. Iranian President Raisi’s helicopter was a US-made Bell-212, a very reliable, albeit outdated, aircraft most likely fitted with new engines, Vadim Bazykin, an honored Russian helicopter test pilot, earlier told Sputnik.
A probe into the crash launched by the Iranian authorities is ongoing. Five days of mourning have been announced in Iran, with the bodies of the late President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Tabriz Friday prayer leader Seyyed Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, and others were laid in Teheran for funeral ceremonies.
Under the Iranian constitution, an early presidential election must be held within 50 days after the incumbent president is pronounced dead or incapacitated, and his powers are transferred to the first vice president. Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will serve as interim president until a new presidential election is held.