President Raisi's helicopter crash caused by weather, probe reveals
Asia
By
AFP
| Sep 02, 2024
Iran's final investigation into the May helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi has found it was caused by bad weather, the body investigating the case said Sunday.
The helicopter carrying 63-year-old Raisi and his entourage came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran, killing the president and seven others, and triggering snap elections.
The main cause of the helicopter crash was the "complex climatic and atmospheric conditions of the region in the spring", the special board investigating the dimensions and causes of the helicopter accident said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
READ MORE
National Infrastructure Fund receives Sh103b seed money from sale of KPC
Nicholas Bodo named acting Civil Aviation Authority DG as Arao exits
Of demand and supply: Why affordable housing uptake has slowed down
New policy fails to deliver tax predictability, expand tax base
Why investing in real estate over paper wealth makes sense
New solutions seal energy access gaps for homes
State rallies support for Sacco reforms
Jubilee asset management records surge in profitability
EU unblocks 90-bn-euro Ukraine loan after Hungary row
Kisumu port targets 700,000 tonnes as expansion fuels Lake Victoria trade boom
The report added that "the sudden emergence of a thick mass of dense and rising fog" caused the helicopter's collision into the mountain.
Iran's army in May similarly said it had found no evidence of criminal activity in the crash that also killed Raisi's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
In August, Fars news agency cited the main causes of the May 19 crash as bad weather conditions and the helicopter's inability to ascend with two extra passengers against security protocols.
But the Iranian armed forces were quick to reject the finding saying, "what is mentioned on Fars news about the presence of two people in the helicopter against the security protocols... is completely false".