Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday declared a day of national mourning in the country for May 21 to pay respects to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other dignitaries who passed away in a helicopter crash.

Raisi, a hardliner long seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said earlier today.

The charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.

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What we know so far:

• Nine people were on board; no official word on cause of crash
• Convoy’s two other copters reached safely, Iranian media says
• Pakistan to observe day of mourning, flag to fly at half-mast
• Rescue teams fought blizzards, difficult terrain during night-long efforts aided by other countries
• First Vice President Mokhber to take over as interim president

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A notification from the Cabinet Division issued today said: “In an expression of fraternal solidarity on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan with the government and people of Iran on the sad demise of the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi and other dignitaries, the prime minister has declared Tuesday, May 21, as a day of national mourning in Pakistan.”

The national flag will fly at half-mast throughout the country on Tuesday. 

Iran’s military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri ordered a probe into the cause of the helicopter crash.

Bagheri ordered “a high-ranking committee to launch an investigation into the cause of the president’s helicopter crash”, the ISNA news agency reported.

Supreme Leader Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, said First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber would take over as interim president, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement. Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Khamenei.

Under Iran’s constitution, a new presidential election must be held within 50 days.

Footage from Iranian state television showed wreckage scattered on a foggy hillside, while separate images from IRNA showed Red Crescent workers carrying a covered body on a stretcher. All those aboard the helicopter were killed, a senior Iranian official had earlier told Reuters.