OR helicopter crash that led to the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, last May, is not attributed only to bad weather, but also to overload which made it difficult for the helicopter to maneuver, Fars reveals today Wednesday citing a source from the security services who were informed about the conclusion of the investigation.

“The investigation into the crash of Ayatollah Raisi’s helicopter has been completed… It is considered absolutely certain that what happened was an accident,” the source told the semi-official news agency, asking not to be named.

The helicopter crashed on a mountainside in hazardous weather conditions (including fog and rain), the report said, noting that the excessive load made it difficult to maneuver. According to what the same source reveals to Fars, the investigation showed that the occupants of the helicopter were two more than the number provided by the security protocol.

Ebrahim Raisi, who was seen as a hardliner and a possible successor to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and the foreign minister Hussein Amirabdolakhian was among the eight victims of the accident, near the border with Azerbaijan.