Turkish drone spots heat believed to be from Iran’s Raisi chopper — report

Turkish Bayraktar Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) identified a source of heat early Monday suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and shared its coordinates with Iranian authorities, the Anadolu news agency has reported on Monday.

After the helicopter carrying Raisi crashed, the Turkish Defence Ministry assigned the Akinci UAV and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capabilities to participate in search activities.

President Raisi attended the inauguration ceremony for a dam on the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday by helicopter.

Iranian state television reported that the accident occurred when Raisi's helicopter made a hard landing while returning from the region.

Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Malik Rahmeti, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim of Tabriz province were also on board the helicopter.

Search and rescue teams are reporting that work continues with difficulty due to adverse weather conditions.