2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash

On 19 May 2024, an Iranian Air Force Bell 212 helicopter crashed near the village of Uzi, East Azerbaijan, Iran, killing President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor-General of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, representative of the supreme leader in East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the head of the president's security team, and three flight crew. It was en route in a convoy of three helicopters from the Giz Galasi Dam to Tabriz.

Background

The helicopter involved was a Bell 212 with Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) registration number. Iran purchased the helicopter in the early 2000s. Former presidents Abolhassan Banisadr (served 1980–1981) and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (served 2005–2013) were both involved in helicopter crashes during their terms in office, but survived.

A day before the crash, the Iran Meteorological Organization issued an orange weather warning (severe weather that may cause damage or accidents) for the region.

Accident

On 19 May, Raisi met President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the Giz Galasi hydroelectric complex along their countries' borders to inaugurate it and to commission the Khoda Afarin hydroelectric complex. Following the meeting, Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, Rahmati, Ale-Hashem, and Raisi's head of security, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi, departed for Tabriz by helicopter to inaugurate a project at an oil refinery. The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters and was crewed by Iranian Air Force pilots Colonel Taher Mostafavi and Colonel Mohsen Daryanush and flight technician Major Behrouz Qadimi. A total of eight people were aboard the helicopter.

At around 13:30 IRST (UTC+3:30), the helicopter crashed approximately 2 km south-west of the village of Uzi, in the Dizmar Forest region, a wildlife corridor in Varzaqan County, East Azerbaijan province.

The head of the President's Office, Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, was in one of the other helicopters. He stated that the helicopters took off at around 13:00. The weather was normal at the start and during most of the flight. Forty-five minutes into the flight, the pilot of Raisi's helicopter, who was in charge of the convoy, ordered other helicopters to increase altitude to avoid a nearby cloud. After 30 seconds of flying over the cloud, the pilot of Esmaeili's helicopter noticed that Raisi's helicopter, which was flying between the two others, had disappeared. The pilot returned to search for Raisi's helicopter and made a few circles, but was unable to contact it via radio and could not descend because of the cloud, so he landed at the nearby Sungun copper mine 30 seconds later. The pilots then called the phone of Captain Mostafavi, who was in charge of Raisi's helicopter, but Ale-Hashem answered, who said the helicopter had crashed into a valley. Esmaeili himself made a second call and spoke to Ale-Hashem, who told him: "I don't feel good, I don't know what happened, I don't know where I am, I'm under trees, I don't know, I don't see anyone, I'm alone." They took an ambulance with medical personnel and drove to the site, speaking several times to Ale-Hashem, who was answering the calls for about three hours. Ale-Hashem died before the rescuers could arrive.

Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Housing and Transportation Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash, who were travelling in the other two helicopters, arrived safely in Tabriz after their aircraft made unsuccessful searches for the third helicopter for fifteen to twenty minutes after losing contact with it.