As state mourning and processions began on Tuesday for Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others killed in a helicopter crash, there is still not much clarity on what exactly happened that led to the accident.
According to an initial investigation by the Turkish rescue group that found the wreckage, the chopper either did not have a transponder fitted or had it turned off reported The Guardian.
While talking to the reporters, Turkish transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said that the Turkish authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter's transponder but they did not find any.
The transponder broadcasts the height and location information.
This puts the safety of the helicopters used by Iran to transport leaders and officials in question. Reportedly, Iran had sought to purchase two Russian helicopters for its leaders amid maintenance concerns.
The helicopter involved in the crash on Sunday was a Bell 212, a two-blade aircraft capable of carrying 15 people. However, the rest two choppers accompanying the president’s helicopter made a safe return.
Along with Iran, the Azerbaijan government is also conducting an investigation at the crash site to examine if weather checks were made before the decision to fly was taken. So far, there have been no serious allegations of sabotage and still weather is considered as the main villain.
However, the crash amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and escalating tensions in the Middle East could not be overlooked.
Five days of mourning
A procession Tuesday morning led by a semi truck carrying the caskets of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz. Hundreds in black walked beside the coffins, some throwing flowers up to them as an emcee wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs.
On Wednesday, a funeral presided over by Khamenei will then turn into a procession as well.
The president's body will be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, the only imam of the Shiite faith buried in Iran.
Iranian President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran.
With Raisi facing US sanctions, for his involvement in the 1988 mass executions, it is unclear whether any world leaders would attend the funeral. Under Raisi's rule, Iran also shipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia to be used in its war on Ukraine.
The US has said that Raisi had "hands on his blood". Even UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat wrote on X, "President Raisi's regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe. I will not mourn him."
