ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday will visit Iran to offer condolences on the sad demise of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian who were killed in a tragic helicopter crash last week.
The PM will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and other top cabinet ministers, according to a statement released by the Foreign Office today.
In order to offer condolences on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan, PM Shehbaz will meet with interim President Mohammad Mokhber and pay a visit to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while in Iran.
The visit comes after Raisi, along with other senior officials, died after their helicopter crashed in bad weather in the mountains in East Azerbaijan province.
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They were returning after attending an inauguration ceremony of a dam on Iran’s border with the Republic of Azerbaijan when the chopper crashed while flying through a mountainous terrain amid heavy fog on Sunday afternoon.
Following an extended search in blizzard conditions, the charred wreckage of the helicopter carrying Raisi, Amirabdollahian, six other passengers, and crew was located early on Monday.
Following the tragedy, Khamenei proclaimed Mokhber as acting president and instructed him to see to it that a new president is elected within 50 days, in accordance with the nation’s constitution. He also declared a five-day period of mourning.
Iran began looking into the helicopter crash one day earlier, and Major General Mohammad Bagheri of the Iranian Armed Forces formed an investigating team. The incident investigation report would be released to the public.
Tuesday saw President Raisi’s burial procession, which was organized by Iranian authorities.
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