The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has released its first report on the aspects to and reasons behind a recent helicopter crash that led to the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raisi and his accompanying delegation.

The report was released on Thursday, shedding more light on the Sunday incident, during which Raisi and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, were martyred after the aircraft carrying them crashed in northwestern Iran.

An investigative team tasked with examining the incident was dispatched to the site of the crash on Monday, the report said.

The team had managed to glean “a remarkable part” of the information it needed to investigate the elements that could have contributed to the incident, it added.

The helicopter carrying the senior officials crashed while flying along its pre-planned route, the report said, noting that the aircraft did not deviate from the course.

The helicopter caught fire after crashing into a mountainous area, the report said, and revealed that the remainder of the wreckage did not bear any bullet holes or signs of similar impact.

According to the report, the crash site was located by Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles at 05:00 a.m. (local time) on Monday, and reached by search teams shortly afterwards.

Communications that took place before the incident between the aircraft and the ground control contained no “suspicious” content, it said, and noted that the nation would be informed about any follow-up findings in due course.

A helicopter carrying President Raisi and his entourage, including FM Hussein Amir Abdollahian, crashed in Eastern Azerbaijan province on May 19, leaving all passengers martyred.

Source: Iranian media