DUBAI, August 22. /TASS/. The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces refuted Wednesday’s media report that named overloading as a possible reason behind the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and other high-ranking Iranian officials.
"A report by the Fars news agency - saying that one of the reasons behind the helicopter crash was the presence of two extra passengers on board in breach of security protocols, which resulted in the helicopter’s lack of thrust and subsequent inability to climb to the required altitude - is false," the General Staff’s public relations department said in a statement.
On May 19, a helicopter carrying Raisi and other Iranian officials crashed in northern Iran. All passengers and crew members were killed.
So far, the General Staff has published two reports about the findings of its investigation into the deadly crash. On May 23, the military said no bullet traces were found on the hull of the crashed helicopter. The aircraft caught fire only after impacting the mountain, the first report says. It also explains that the search for the crash site and the wreckage continued through the night because the effort was complicated by thick fog, low temperatures and mountainous terrain.
In the second report, published on May 29, the General Staff said the version of an explosion resulting from sabotage had been brushed aside. Also, the Iranian military found no signs indicating that the helicopter’s systems were somehow tampered with the use of electronic warfare technologies.
A source in Iranian special services told Fars on August 21 that the helicopter crash was deemed to be an accident. In his words, the aircraft was "carrying two more persons than safety protocols permitted, so when the pilot noticed the fog and attempted to take the helicopter to the required altitude, the helicopter lacked the power to do so and, in the conditions of limited visibility due to the fog, a collision with a mountain took place."
No GPS systems were installed on the helicopters in line with security requirements, meaning that the possibility of hacking the aircraft’s electronics systems and any attempts to tamper with them were ruled out. According to the source, special services ran checks on at least 30,000 people after Raisi's death, and concluded that human factor was not to blame.