Iran’s eighth President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister, and other senior officials are confirmed dead in a helicopter crash after a long overnight search in dense fog and snow in the mountainous terrain of Iran’s rugged East Azerbaijan province.

Their bodies were found on Monday morning, several hours after their chopper crashed, state media reported.

Following the incident, the rescue teams fought blizzards and difficult terrain through the night to reach the wreckage in the early hours of Monday.

A Turkish drone identified a source of heat suspected to be the helicopter's wreckage and had shared the coordinates of the possible crash site with Iranian authorities, Anadolu news agency said earlier on X.

Later, the head of the Islamic Republic Red Crescent Society (IRCS) announced that the dead bodies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions were recovered and being transported to Tabriz, northwest Iran.

The recuse teams found the helicopter completely burned in the crash and unfortunately, all passengers were killed, according to Reuters.

President Ebrahim Raisi’s entourage included- Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, Malik Rahmati, governor of East Azerbaijan Province, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, representative of the Iranian supreme leader to East Azerbaijan, Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, head of Raisi’s guard team, Colonel Seyed Taher Mostafavi, the helicopter’s pilot Colonel Mohsen Daryanush, the helicopter’s co-pilot, and Major Behrouz Ghadimi, flight technician.