Iranian President Raisi's helicopter suffers 'hard landing'

A helicopter in a convoy in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was traveling was involved in a "hard landing" on Sunday afternoon, according to Iranian state media.

Details about the incident remained unclear as of Sunday afternoon, although initial reports indicated the accident involved the president's helicopter and foggy weather. According to the Iranian IRNA news agency, the helicopter crashed in a forest area between the villages of PirDavood and Uzi in northwestern Iran.

According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, emergency services were conducting searches to try and find the president's helicopter, but the foggy weather in the area was complicating search efforts.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist in East Azerbaijan and the Imam of Friday Prayer in Tabriz, were reportedly in the helicopter with Raisi.

The Deputy Coordinator of Civil Affairs of East Azerbaijan said that there were three helicopters in the convoy, two of which landed safely and one of which fell, according to Iranian state media. The deputy coordinator added that he did not know any details about possible casualties or the exact cause of the accident.

Iranian media reported that some people were able to talk with Ale-Hashem shortly after the incident but that contact had since been lost.