Varzaqan
\nIranian military investigators have so far found no evidence of criminal activity in the helicopter crash that killed late President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, according to state media.
\nA preliminary report on the crash by the general staff of the armed forces said the craft had \u201ccaught fire after hitting an elevated area\u201d, finding no traces of \u201cbullet holes\u201d on the helicopter wreckage, according to the official IRNA news agency late on Thursday.
\nThe report also stated that Raisi\u2019s helicopter had been flying on a \u201cpre-planned route and did not leave the designated flight path\u201d before the crash on Sunday.
\n\u201cNo suspicious content was observed during the communications between the watch tower and the flight crew,\u201d it added.
\nThe final communication between the president\u2019s craft and two accompanying helicopters was recorded about a minute and a half before the crash, according to a statement from the general staff of the armed forces, broadcast on state television on Thursday night.
\nThe helicopter wreckage had been found in Iran\u2019s mountainous northwest by Iranian drones early on Monday, with the \u201ccomplexity of the area, fog and low temperature\u201d hindering the work of search and rescue teams.
\nHowever, while the first statement on the crash did not lay blame, it said that more details would follow. More time was needed, the army said, to conduct investigations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Varzaqan Iranian military investigators have so far found no evidence of criminal activity in the helicopter crash that killed late President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, according to state media. A preliminary report on the crash by the general staff of the armed forces said the craft had \u201ccaught fire after hitting an elevated area\u201d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-409138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n