Rescue teams have located the chopper that crashed in the country’s northwest on Sunday afternoon, Pir-Hossein Koulivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), said in televised remarks in the wee hours of Monday morning.

He said there was no sign of any survivors in the incident that took place on Sunday.

However, there is no official confirmation so far of the search and rescue operation concluding.

The chopper that was transporting Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and their companions encountered some difficulties and was forced to make a “hard landing”.

The incident happened in the Dizmar forest, nestled between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azerbaijan province.

Raeisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.