Tehran: The first drone footage showing a clearer picture of the crash site of the chopper carrying Iran President Ebrahim Rais surfaced, showing wreckage of the helicopter spread across a forest area in Northwestern Iran.  

The Iranian state press reported that there are ‘no sign of life’ seen at the crash site as spotted by the rescuers from nearly 2 km from the incident site, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media. 

Raisi, 63, was travelling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province when his chopper faced ‘hard landing’ near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

With Monday sunrise, the rescuers confirmed that no survivor was spotted at the crash site of chopper carrying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollhian and others.

The incident was described using word ‘crash’ by local Iranian government officials, while others referred it to ‘hard landing.' 

The incident comes months after Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a drone attack and missile offensive against Israel. 

Iran has also faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over an ailing economy and women's rights - making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country as the Israel-Hamas war inflames the wider Middle East.