‘Searching every inch’: Raisi’s helicopter still missing in Iran 15 hours after crash

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran yesterday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray.

As the sun rises Monday, Raisi and the others on board remain missing some 15 hours after the likely crash, with Turkish drone footage suggesting the helicopter went down in the mountains. Rescuers rushed to the site.

Earlier, the national broadcaster showed a rescue team, wearing bright jackets and head torches, huddled around a GPS device as they searched a pitch-black mountainside on foot amid a snowy blizzard.

“We are thoroughly searching every inch of the general area of the crash,” state media quoted a regional army commander as saying. “The area has very cold, rainy, and foggy weather conditions. The rain is gradually turning into snow.”