Iranโs army has so far found no evidence of criminal activity in a helicopter crash that killed the countryโs president Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, state media reported.
The 63-year-old died on Sunday after his helicopter went down in the countryโs mountainous northwest while returning from a dam inauguration on the border with Azerbaijan.
โNo bullet holes or similar impacts were observed on the helicopter wreckage,โ said a preliminary report by the general staff of the armed forces published by the official IRNA news agency late Thursday.
โThe helicopter caught fire after hitting an elevated area,โ it said, adding that โno suspicious content was observed during the communications between the watch tower and the flight crew.โ
Raisiโs helicopter had been flying on a โpre-planned route and did not leave the designated flight pathโ before the crash.
The report said the wreckage of the helicopter had been found by Iranian drones early on Monday but the โcomplexity of the area, fog and low temperatureโ hindered the work of search and rescue teams.
The army said โmore time is neededโ to investigate the crash and that it would announce more details later.
Raisi was laid to rest in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday concluding days of funeral ceremonies in some of Iranโs major cities including the capital attended by throngs of mourners.
Among the people killed in the incident was foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who was also buried on Thursday in the town of Shahre Ray south of the capital.
