After the Iranian government announced the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, his Foreign Minister, and his entourage following the crash of his plane on Sunday evening, in the Azerbaijan province, northwest of the country, pictures emerged of the ill-fated helicopter.

Agence France-Presse published a picture of the presidential plane from the scene of its crash, which appears almost completely burned. The Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, were on board, as well as the Friday imam in the city of Tabriz, Ali Al Hashem. And the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati, and the head of the Iranian president’s security team, Mehdi Mousavi, also a pilot, his assistant, and an aviation technician.

This came as the Iranian Red Crescent announced in a statement that the inability to reach the helicopter immediately after it crashed killed everyone on board in the first moments.

He added on Monday that Raisi's helicopter crashed at an altitude of 2,500 metres.

The bodies were burned

Initial images, which showed the helicopter almost burned, showed that it collided with a mountaintop, in the absence of visibility due to bad weather conditions yesterday, over a rugged area on the Iranian border with Azerbaijan, according to what local media reported.

Also, some analysts, in statements to Al Arabiya/Al Hadath, suggested that the helicopter collided with a mountain in the Tabriz region, amid heavy fog and bad weather conditions, especially after initial photos of the plane showed it almost completely burning.

While the commander of the Ashura Corps announced that “some of the bodies were burned and could not be identified.”

Bell 412

The helicopter landed in the middle of the Arsparan forests in the vicinity of the village of Ozi, in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, amid heavy fog that made it difficult for rescue teams to reach it until now.

The "Bell 412" helicopter is from the "Huey" family of helicopters, and was manufactured by the American company Bell Helicopter Textron.

It also has two engines and four propellers, and is "an upgraded version of the Bell 212 aircraft." According to the Military Factory American website.

Helicopter capabilities

The website noted that “this helicopter is capable of continuing to fly with one engine if the other fails, and is used by Canada, Italy, and Japan.”

Since the Bell 412 was introduced in 1979, several hundred have been produced, and the cockpit electronics have been upgraded several times.

Among its advantages are that it can accommodate a maximum of 15 people, the maximum speed of the aircraft is 259 km/h, the maximum flight altitude is 6096 meters, and the flight range is 980 km.

Last visit

It is noteworthy that Raisi was in Azerbaijan early yesterday, Sunday, with the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, to open the third dam that the two countries built on the Aras River.

The recent visit came despite cold relations between the two countries, including the armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran in 2023, and diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Israel, which Tehran considers its main enemy in the region.