Tehran is holding a farewell ceremony for Iranian President Leahy
According to the Tehran Times, Iran's Vice President in charge of administrative affairs, Muhsen Mansuri, confirmed that funerals would be held in Tabriz, Qom, Tehran, Biljand and Mashhad in memory of the "respected President". At present, the farewell ceremony is being held in Tehran, the capital, and dignitaries from many countries are attending.
After the crash of Lehi's helicopter, the director of the Iranian President's Office disclosed some details given by his peers; At present, many media and experts have given their own analysis of the cause of the accident, but the specific cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Leahy's funeral and farewell ceremonies are underway
On the 20th, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of national mourning.
On the 21st, the President's special plane carrying Lehi's coffin arrived at Tehran Mehrabad International Airport. Iranian government and military officials lined up on the red carpet, and the Iranian military held a memorial ceremony. According to pictures released by Iranian media, a seat on the president's special plane was empty and covered with black cloth, with a picture of Leahy on it.
According to the Tehran Times, the funeral of Iranian President Lehi and other state officials began on the 21st in Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Al Jazeera said that thousands of mourners, waving the Iranian flag and the portrait of the late president, gathered in a central square in Tabriz to participate in Leahy's farewell march.
A large number of people in black lined up in the street in the rain, and a hearse carrying the coffins of President Leahy, Foreign Minister Abdullahian and other victims drove slowly through the crowd.
Iranian Interior Minister Wahidi made a speech in Tabriz, praised Lehi and Abdullahian for "setting a model of brave service and diplomacy", and referred to the ongoing Palestinian Israeli conflict. "Who can forget Lehi's sincere speech to defend Gaza?" Wahidi said.
In the afternoon of the same day, Lehi's body was airlifted to Qom (about 140 kilometers south of Tehran), the "Holy Land" of the Shiite Islam. From 4 p.m. of the same day, the Fatima Masumeh Shrine held a procession and a memorial ceremony.
Later, Leahy's body was transferred to the capital Tehran again.
At 9:30 am on the 22nd, the farewell ceremony officially began, and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over the prayer. All offices are closed. Starting from the Martyr's Square, Lehi's coffin will be sent to the Great Mosque of Imam Khomeini. A solemn farewell ceremony will be held when night falls.
Finally, Lehi's body will be airlifted to his hometown, Mashhad in northeastern Iran, and buried there after the funeral. Abdullahian will be buried in the capital Tehran. According to Mansuri, the funeral procedure will be held at the Imam Ritza Temple in Mashhad on the evening of the 24th, where Lehi will rest in peace. Before that, on the morning of the 24th, Birjand (Lehi was the representative of South Khorasan in the Iranian expert meeting) in South Khorasan Province will hold a funeral procession, and then the body will be transported to Mashhad for the final ceremony and burial.
After Leahy's death, many countries around the world expressed their condolences. India, Pakistan and the United Nations Headquarters announced that their flags would fly at half mast in memory of Leahy. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Sri Lanka and other countries also announced national mourning for the death of the Iranian President.
According to the Tass News Agency, the Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Vladimir Vorokin, will represent Russia at the funeral of Iranian President Leahy. On the 21st local time, Russian President Putin asked Vorokin to convey to the Iranian leadership that Russia will make every effort to ensure the continuation of Russia Iran relations, and is prepared to make every effort to provide expert support and assistance to Iran to find out the real cause of the accident.
According to the report of Al Jazeera Television, the foreign dignitaries who attended the funeral ceremony of Lehi mainly included Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Feidan, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Sudani, Indian Vice President Dankar, Russian Duma President Vyacheslav Vorokin, Afghan Taliban representative, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif, etc; Azerbaijani Prime Minister Asadov, Hamas leader Hania, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pahiniyan and others also arrived in Tehran today. In addition, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin announced on the 22nd that Zhang Guoqing, Special Representative of President Xi Jinping, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Vice Premier of the State Council, will attend the mourning event for the late Iranian President Lehi in Tehran on May 22nd.
The scene of the helicopter crash of the Iranian President
The President's Office Director disclosed more details of the accident
On May 19, the helicopter of Iranian President Lehi crashed in East Azerbaijan Province in northwest Iran, killing Lehi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahian and other accompanying personnel. The first vice president of Iran, Mukhber, has acted as president. After the discussion of the Iranian government, parliament and judicial leaders, Iran will hold a presidential election on June 28.
The president's helicopter team consists of three helicopters. At the time of the incident, they were travelling from Khoda Afalin County to Tabriz to attend the inauguration ceremony of a petrochemical complex. Earlier in the day, Leahy just participated in the inauguration ceremony of the reservoir dam in Khoda Afalin County with Azerbaijani President Aliyev, which was also regarded as the latest sign of warming relations between the two countries.
According to local media reports, due to the complex situation caused by heavy fog in northern Iran, one of the three helicopters had a "hard landing". A commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard said on the 19th that they found the exact location of the crash after receiving signals from the helicopter and a crew member's mobile phone.
At present, the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
According to the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency, Hussain, the head of the office of the Iranian President, disclosed more details of the crash in an interview on the 20th. At that time, Hussein took another helicopter as an entourage of the President. According to him, the helicopter team took off at about 1 p.m. local time on May 19, when the weather conditions in the region were normal.
"However, after half an hour's flight, clouds appeared near Songgong Copper Mine (note: Sungun copper mine, located in East Azerbaijan Province in northwest Iran), but not fog. There may be fog in the deep valley, but there is no fog on our flight route. The clouds are higher than helicopters."
According to Hussein, after about 45 minutes of flight, the helicopter pilot responsible for escorting President Leahy ordered other helicopters to raise their altitude to avoid the nearby clouds. The helicopter increased its altitude as instructed. However, about 30 seconds later, the President's helicopter flying between the other two helicopters suddenly disappeared, and the pilot decided to turn around and look for the President's helicopter. After several attempts to get in touch with the president's helicopter through radio equipment failed, due to the clouds, the helicopter could not lower its altitude, so it had to continue flying after circling for several circles, and finally landed at the nearby Songgong Copper Mine.
Hussein added that neither Foreign Minister Abdullahian nor the head of the presidential protection team responded to the repeated contacts sent. The pilots of the other two helicopters also contacted Captain Mostafawi, who was in charge of the presidential helicopter, but the person who answered the phone was Mohammad Ali Ale Hashem, who was on the same helicopter with the president. Hashim said that he and others fell into the canyon, but did not specify what happened.
Hussein himself then contacted Hashim for the second time. Hashim said: "I feel very uncomfortable. I don't know what happened. I don't know where I am. I'm under a tree. I can't see anyone. I'm alone."
"When we found the accident site, the condition of the bodies of the victims showed that Lehi and other accompanying personnel died on the spot, but Hashim died hours later," Hussein said.
Rescue vehicles go to the accident site in foggy weather
The cause of the accident is still unclear
At present, the cause of the crash is under investigation. On the 20th, the Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Sergei Bageri, appointed a high-level delegation, including military and technical experts, to investigate the helicopter crash that killed President Leahy and his entourage.
According to the report of CNN on May 21, Turkey said that it had tried to monitor whether the aircraft sent a "signal" but failed to detect anything the first time after the loss of contact of the Lech helicopter.
Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ural Olu said: "We immediately contacted the Iranian side. They also contacted us, but unfortunately, the signal system was either shut down or the helicopter was not equipped with a signal system."
CNN reported that it is not clear whether Ural Olu refers to the transponder of the helicopter, and most aircraft are usually equipped with transponder.
When asked whether there is any possibility of man-made destruction, Ural Olu said that it is too early to comment on this issue, and said that the preliminary signs showed that this was an accident caused by fog weather.
It is reported that Lech's helicopter is American Bel-212. The helicopter, numbered 6-9221, was purchased from the United States during the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran in the 1970s. Another intelligence analyst said that the number of the crashed helicopter was 6-9207, indicating that the helicopter had been delivered to the Iranian Air Force in 1994. The specific number has not been officially announced by Iran.
Cedric Leyton, a retired colonel of the U.S. Air Force, said that this old model helicopter lacks advanced equipment such as radar, terrain mapping and night vision cameras, which is also the reason why Leyton's helicopter has no signal transmission after an accident.
The Financial Times said that the more likely reason was the aging of Iran's aircraft fleet, which was overwhelmed by decades of wear and tear. For many years, due to Western sanctions and export controls on Iran, Iran has been facing obstacles in updating, maintaining its fleet and obtaining spare parts. According to the data of the aviation analysis company Cirium, the average age of the active aircraft of Iran's passenger aircraft fleet is nearly 28 years, more than twice the global average age. Most of the aircraft types of the Iranian Air Force are even older than their civilian fleet, including many American aircraft purchased in the 1970s, Soviet made aircraft and several French Mirage F-1 fighters.
Mohammed Jawad Zarif, the former foreign minister of Iran, also told the Associated Press that the helicopter accident of Lehi and other senior officials was related to the long-term sanctions of the United States and the embargo measures on the sale of aircraft and aircraft parts to Iran.
However, the United States later denied this accusation, saying it was "baseless". At the same time, Matthew Miller, spokesman of the United States State Department, said on the 20th that the Iranian government had asked the United States for assistance in finding the helicopter carrying Iranian President Leahy.
"We did make it clear to them that we would provide assistance, just as we would respond to any request from a foreign government under such circumstances. For logistical reasons, we failed to provide such assistance in the end," Miller said.
The latest report on CNN21 said that Iran has a voice that the accident was caused by US sanctions, and the truth may be "more complicated". Although the local seasonal rainfall has decreased, another weather front is approaching. The weather is cold and humid, and thick fog covers the 1800m high steep mountains on the direct flight route.
A civil aviation helicopter pilot, who did not want to be named, said in an interview at www.thepaper.cn that, unlike fixed wing aircraft, helicopters mainly fly at low altitude and are more risky in mountainous areas. Due to the influence of terrain, weather and airflow, they will face different combined changes in temperature and humidity, which will affect the performance of helicopters, Severe weather (such as fog, severe convection weather) or wind shear may cause accidents. In addition, due to the fuselage structure and use, it is more difficult for people on board to escape when a helicopter crashes in a serious accident.
"Due to the low flight altitude, the reaction time left to pilots and passengers is very short, and because of the rotor wing, the possibility of parachute jumping in the event of a crash is very low. Ordinary transport helicopters are basically not equipped with parachutes. The ejection technology of some military helicopters is also not suitable for the transport of helicopters." said the above civil aviation pilot.
However, CNN also raised many questions in the report, such as why the crew chose to fly over the mountains when they knew it might be safer to bypass the mountains or fly to other destinations, why the president and the foreign minister were allowed to fly in the same plane when they knew the weather was bad and there were three helicopters.
Aviation experts believe that the specific reasons still need to wait for the investigation of the Iranian authorities, and the in-depth investigation of the helicopter's black box, aircraft maintenance and related support personnel is needed. However, it should be noted that some helicopters do not have a black box, and as a VIP plane of a political dignitary, it will generally be equipped with a black box.
CNN said the crash also exposed Iran's lack of preparedness to deal with such disasters. Iran does not seem to lack manpower, but it lacks sufficient technology. When hundreds of medical workers, climbers, soldiers, police and even elite revolutionary guards searched the steep mountains and deep canyons, it was the Turkish UAV AKINCI who first found the helicopter. Previously, Iran also asked Turkey and Russia to provide helicopters with night vision capability.
