It is reported that a Turkish drone detected a heat source believed to be the wreckage of the helicopter that crashed in northwestern Iran on the 19th (local time), carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Turkiye’s Anadolu Agency stated on X that on the 20th, a Turkish Akinci Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) conducting a local search detected a heat source believed to be the wreckage of the helicopter carrying President Raisi and shared the coordinates with Iranian authorities.
On this matter, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also confirmed that the heat source detected by the drone may be the wreckage of the helicopter carrying President Raisi. Sputnik News cited Iranian Press TV and reported as the above.
The heat source was detected near the village of Tabil, Iran, about 30 kilometers from the Azerbaijani border.
Press TV reported that the Iranian authorities urgently dispatched a rescue team with a special tracking device to the scene to find the exact location of the accident. At the time, a total of nine people were reportedly on board the helicopter, including President Raisi, three officials, and crew members.
According to the report of Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, the helicopter was carrying a total of nine people at the time, including President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor Malek Rahmati of East Azerbaijan, Imam Ali Ale-Hashem of Tabriz, a pilot, security guards, and a security officer, as reported by a media outlet operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).