Live Updates: Iran’s President and Foreign Minister Killed in Helicopter Crash

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rescuers have found a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials that appeared to have crashed in Iran’s mountainous northwest regions a day earlier, although “no sign of life” was detected, state officials reported Media.

As the sun rose on Monday, rescuers saw the helicopter from about two kilometers (1.25 miles) away, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media. He did not elaborate and the officers had been missing for over 12 hours at that point.

Raisi was traveling in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. State television reported that a so-called “hard landing” took place near Jolfa, a town on the border with Azerbaijan, about 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran. State television later reported further east near the village of Uzi, but details remained conflicting.

With Raisi were Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, state news agency IRNA reported. One local government official used the word “crash,” but others referred to either a “hard landing” or an “incident.”

Footage released by IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site in a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azerbaijani language said: “There it is, we found it.”

Shortly afterwards, a scrolling text on state television said: “There is no sign of life from the people on board.” It did not elaborate, but the semi-official Tasnim news agency showed rescuers flying a small drone over the construction site, checking among themselves said the same thing.