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Turkiye says helicopter carrying Iran's Raisi did not emit any signal

May 20, 2024 at 3:41 pm

Search and rescue teams reach the wreckage of the helicopter and start working in the area as Iranian state television announced that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian lost their lives in the helicopter crash in Iran on May 20, 2024 [Azin Haghighi / Moj News Agency – Anadolu Agency]

The helicopter that crashed while carrying Iran’s president and foreign minister on Sunday, killing both men, did not have its signal system turned on, or did not possess such a system, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Monday.

According to Reuters, Uraloglu told reporters that since Iran fell within Turkey’s area of responsibility for emergency responses, the authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter upon hearing news that it had crashed.

“But, unfortunately, [we think] it’s most likely that the signal system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have that signal system,” the minister explained. “Otherwise, our system would definitely see those signals, but they didn’t [this time].”

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