Bodies recovered from Raisi helicopter crash site

The Iranian Red Crescent said Monday that the bodies of President Ebrahim Raisi and others who died in a helicopter
crash had been recovered, and search operations had ended, reports AFP.

"We are in the process of transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz" in Iran‍‍`s northwest, Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand told state TV,
adding that "the search operations have come to an end."

State TV reported that images from the site showed the aircraft slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash, according to Reuters.

State news agency IRNA said Raisi was flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter.

Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran‍‍`s nuclear programme, had earlier sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.