ISTANBUL

Search and rescue teams detected the smell of fuel oil at one point of interest concerning the helicopter that crashed while carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation, and the region in question was one of the places where the accident was likely to have occurred, the president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society told reporters early Monday.

"We are sending search and rescue teams to the place where they say they smell fuel oil. The place where the smell of fuel is detected is the same as one of the places where the accident is likely to have occurred," Pir Hossein Kolivand was quoted as saying by the Iranian Workers’ News Agency (ILNA).

President Raisi had attended the inauguration ceremony for a dam on the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday by helicopter.

Iranian state television reported that the accident occurred when Raisi's helicopter made a hard landing while returning from the region.

Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Malik Rahmeti, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim of Tabriz province were also on board the helicopter.

Search and rescue teams are reporting that work continues with difficulty due to adverse weather conditions.