Brigadier among two killed in Iran's helicopter crash

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards Brigadier and another personal were killed in a helicopter crash in Iran’s Sistan province.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “had an accident while conducting combat operations” in a border area, IRNA news agency said.

It said the crash happened in Sirkan, a city in Sistan-Baluchistan province, and identified the dead as General Hamid Mazandarani, the commander of the Nineveh Brigade of Golestan province, and Hamed Jandaghi, a pilot of the IRGC ground forces.

It is important to mention here that President Raisi, his foreign minister and other senior officials, died when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region near the Azerbaijan border on May 19..

According to Iran’s state media, East Azarbaijan Province’s Governor Malek Rahmati, and Mehdi Mousavi, the head of Raisi’s guard team were also killed in the crash.

Soon after the incident, Iranian authorities began an extensive search and rescue operation which was affected by dense fog.

However, the search team located the crashed helicopter in East Azerbaijan province on, May 20, morning.

Later, the final report by the Armed Forces of Iran on the helicopter crash claimed that no signs of sabotage were found in the plane crash that claimed lives of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage.

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces released its final report on Sunday, confirming earlier findings that harsh weather conditions in northwestern Iran at the time of the incident, including a dense and rising fog, was the primary cause of the crash.

All documents related to the helicopter’s maintenance and repairs since its purchase were meticulously reviewed by military and civilian experts, who determined that all major repairs and replacement of critical parts were carried out in accordance with standard regulations.