Iran begins probe into Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter crash

The delegation headed by Brigadier Ali Abdollahi has been dispatched to the site of the incident and the investigation has already begun.

The results of the investigations will be announced later when the mission is completed

President Raisi was returning from a ceremony to open a dam on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan on Sunday when his helicopter crashed in Varzaqan, northwestern Iran, on Sunday.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and a number of senior provincial officials were also on board the helicopter who were all martyred.

"President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and a group of officials accompanying them were martyred in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said in a statement.

East Azarbaijan Province’s Governor Malek Rahmati, the head of Raisi’s guard team Mehdi Mousavi and Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, the Supreme Leader’s representative in the East Azerbaijan province, were also onboard helicopter.

State media reported that rescuers located the helicopter's wreckage after a Turkish Akinci drone identified two "heat sources" in the village of Tawal.

The 63-year-old politician was in Azerbaijan on Sunday to inaugurate a dam alongside his counterpart Ilham Aliyev. 

After the ceremony, Raisi and his entourage departed in a convoy of three helicopters to inaugurate another project.

However, Raisi's helicopter lost contact shortly after taking off.