TEHRAN: Iran’s investigation into the May helicopter crash that killed president Ebrahim Raisi has found it was caused by bad weather and overloading, Iranian media said Wednesday citing an official.

The helicopter carrying 63-year-old Raisi and his entourage came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran, killing the president and seven others, and triggering snap elections.

Fars news agency, quoting an informed security source with knowledge of the concolusions of the probe, said Iranian security forces had “absolute certainty that what happened was an accident”.

Iran’s army in May similarly said it had found no evidence of criminal activity in the crash that also killed Raisi’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“The case of the crash of Ayatollah Raisi’s helicopter has been fully completed by the regulatory and security institutions,” Fars reported.—AFP