Surviving Deadly Accident, Iran's Presidential Chief Of Staff: Normal Weather When Off Landas, Disappears After Avoiding Clouds

The funeral procession for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi began in Tabriz. (Source: IRNA/Ali Hamed Haghdost)

JAKARTA - Iran's Presidential Chief of Staff who survived the deadly accident that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian revealed that the weather when the group helicopter took off was normal, but after flying there was an order to avoid the clouds, before the presidential helicopter suddenly disappeared 30 seconds later.

In an interview with state television Monday, Gholamhossein Esmaili revealed that weather conditions in Iran's Varzaqan area, where President Raisi's helicopter crashed, were perfect early and during most of the flights carried out the day before.

Esmaili is in one of three helicopters returning from the dam inauguration ceremony on Iran's border with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He said the helicopter took off at around 13.00 p.m. local time on May 19 when the weather conditions in the area were normal.

After flying for 45 minutes, helicopter pilot President Raisi, who led the convoy, ordered another helicopter to increase altitude to avoid nearby clouds.

However, the presidential helicopter flying between the other two helicopters suddenly disappeared.

"After 30 seconds of flying over the clouds, our pilots realized that the helicopter in the middle had disappeared," Esmaili said, adding that the pilot decided to go round and round and back looking for a presidential helicopter, quoted from IRNA May 22.

Easmaili said that after several attempts to contact the presidential helicopter via radio, and the helicopter could not lower its altitude due to the clouds, their helicopters continued their flight and landed at the nearest copper mine.

He said Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian and the head of the presidential protection unit did not respond to repeated calls afterward.

However, he continued, pilots from two other helicopters had contacted Captain Mostafavi, who was in charge of the presidential helicopter, but who received the call was Friday prayer leader Tabriz Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, who was in bad shape, saying the helicopter crashed into the valley.

Esmaili himself made second contact with Ale-Hashem and received the same answer regarding the situation.

"When we found the accident site, the condition of the body showed Ayatollah Raisi and other friends were instantly killed, but Ale-Hashem was martyred after a few hours," he said.

As previously reported, President Raisi and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollhian, recently returned from an event on the border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate the dam project on Sunday, when their helicopter crashed in bad weather conditions in mountainous areas northwestern Iran.

Search and rescue officers found the crash site in the dense forest of Dizmar in East Azerbaijan Province on Monday morning after an 18-hour operation, hampered by thick fog, rain, and steep terrain in the area.

Head of Iran's Disaster Management Organization Mohammad Hassan Namibia said all victims were identified without requiring identification.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was devastated and lost the death of President Raisi is planned to lead prayers and funeral ceremonies for all victims in Tehran on Wednesday.

Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri noted that a separate funeral ceremony will be held for President Raisi in South Khorasan Province on Thursday and he will be buried in his hometown, Mashhad, on the same day.