ANKARA

Hundreds of thousands of people are following the flight of an Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that Türkiye assigned to assist in search efforts for a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation that crashed in northwestern Iran.

According to figures, the Akinci UAV ranked first early Monday among the most followed aircraft in the world on the FlightRadar24 application, with more than 200,000 people tracking the movements of the drone in the skies of Iran amid rescue efforts.

After the helicopter carrying Raisi had an accident, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense assigned the Akinci UAV and a Cougar type helicopter with night vision capabilities to participate in search activities.

The UAV's flight attracted great attention around the world from the very beginning.

Raisi had attended an inauguration ceremony for a dam on the Iran-Azerbaijan border earlier in the day 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, East Azerbaijan State Governor Malik Rahmeti and Tabriz Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim were also on the helicopter.

Search and rescue teams report that their work continues with difficulty due to adverse weather conditions.