Sri Lankan President expresses shock over death of Iranian President, FM

Colombo, May 20 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday said he was deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other senior Irani officials in a helicopter crash.In an online statement, Wickremesinghe expressed his deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to the bereaved families, the government and the people of Iran, Xinhua news agency reported.”Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of President Raisi and his entourage,” Wickremesinghe said.Due to the bad weather, the helicopter carrying Raisi and other senior officials was forced into a hard landing in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday, which led to a crash killing all on board, state-run IRIB TV reported on Monday.The other members of Raisi’s accompanying team, including East Azerbaijan’s Governor Malek Rahmati and the Friday prayers leader Tabriz Mohammad Ali Ale-Hasehem, as well as the flight crew, also lost their lives, the report said.–IANSint/sd/svn