The funeral of the president of Iran, who died in the helicopter crash, begins in Tehran

May 22. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The funeral of the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, who died last Sunday in the helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday in the province of East Azerbaijan (northwest), began this Wednesday in the city of Tehran, the capital of the country, which was attended by participation of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and where thousands of people have gathered to participate in the funeral march.

The television network Press TV has started a live broadcast of the events through its account on the social network Foreign Affairs, Hosein Amirabdolahian, and the rest of his companions, made Khamenei declare five days of national mourning.

The political leader of the Islamist movement Hamas, Ismail Haniye, went to the site of the ceremony and once again expressed his condolences, according to the Iranian Mehr news agency.

Raisi’s body will be transferred on Thursday to South Khorasan province, where another ceremony will be held before its final destination, the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, his birthplace and known as a pilgrimage site.

During the previous day, when the first of the ceremonies for the deceased was held in the city of Tabriz, Mohsen Mansuri, head of the committee created to organize the funerals, declared this Wednesday as a national holiday so that the population can join these events in their localities, as reported by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.

For his part, Amirdabolahian will be buried on Thursday at the Shabdolazim shrine, located in the city of Rey and near Tehran. Two of the bodies of the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati; and the leader of the Friday prayers in Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale Hashem – also killed in the incident – will be buried on Thursday in Maragheh and Tabriz, respectively.

The helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon in a difficult-to-access area, an incident initially described as a “forced landing.” The search efforts, made difficult by the presence of fog and rain, had the support of several countries, including Turkey, which sent drones to locate the place where the remains of the device were located.