Iranian president's helicopter makes hard landing in NW province

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a hard landing in Iran's northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday, state-run IRIB TV reported.

Raisi’s helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters which was on its way from Khoda Afarin County, where Raisi had attended the inauguration ceremony of a storage dam along with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, to the provincial capital Tabriz where Raisi was scheduled to attend the inauguration of a petrochemical complex, according to the report.

"On May 19 local time, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi made a hard landing in East Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. According to our investigation in Iran, the incident took place near the Varzaghan area of East Azerbaijan. From the live broadcast on Iranian national television, we can see that the entire area of the accident site is in a state of severe foggy weather, which caused great trouble to the search and rescue work. In addition to Iranian President Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and other officials and entourage were also on the helicopter," said Li Jiannan, a CCTV reporter in Iran.

Speaking to IRIB TV, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's rough landing to the unfavorable weather conditions, which he said also impacted search and rescue work.

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society Pirhossein Kolivand told IRIB TV that 40 rapid reaction teams had rushed to the scene and were monitoring the region while noting that there were difficulties in reaching the scene by land or by air due to the mountainous terrain and the bad weather conditions.

Kolivand, however, said drones were being used to search the region.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Baqeri has ordered the army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the police to make all-out efforts to search for and rescue the president and his accompanying team, said the Iran Newspaper.

Speaking to IRIB TV, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said medical teams had been stationed near the possible crash site.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said in a post on social media platform X that Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and several cabinet members were on their way to Tabriz after a meeting in Tehran.

Following the incident, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed his hope that President Raisi and accompanying officials would be able to return home safely, saying that everyone should pray for them. Iranian people do not need to worry, and the work of the country and the government will not be affected, he said.

Following reports of the incident, leaders of neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan and Iraq, expressed concern over the developments and said they were ready to assist in search and rescue efforts.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the same day, saying that Türkiye is following the incident and hopes that Iranian President Raisi, Foreign Minister Abdollahian and other Iranian officials are safe and healthy. Türkiye has taken action to provide support for the search and rescue operation, the statement said.

Iranian president's helicopter makes hard landing in NW province

China’s first intelligent field plant phenotype precision identification platform went into operation recently in Sanya City, south China’s Hainan Province, which is a milestone in the country’s development of intelligent breeding.

The phenotype of a plant is a term used to describe observable characteristics of the plant, such as its appearance, and some inherent physiological characteristics, such as resistance to drought and diseases.

In an experimental field of the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a large piece of equipment is moving across the field. The equipment, called the field plant phenotype precision identification platform, can move according to the preset track and can be remotely controlled. While moving, the equipment can scan the plants with its six sensors, just like a CT machine for plants.

"The ultimate goal is to achieve high-throughput, large-scale, efficient and precise collection of germplasm resources, which can be four to five times higher than the efficiency of the traditional manual collection," said Jin Xiuliang, a researcher at the institute.

Although the equipment looks simple from the outside, it contains six high-precision image acquisition devices such as multi-spectral, thermal infrared, and chlorophyll fluorescence devices. Data can be collected at fixed times and points according to experimental needs, and the collection of a germplasm material can be completed within 30 seconds.

After the data collected through this platform is transmitted to the data analysis center, researchers can more quickly and accurately screen out germplasm resources with excellent traits, laying the foundation for subsequent crop breeding.

"The plant phenotype identification facility at the National Nanfan Research Institute is a milestone in the field of crop science in China. It can greatly enhance the independent innovation capabilities of germplasm innovation, gene mining, and variety breeding, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's seed industry," said Li Huihui, vice president of the institute.  

China makes major progress in smart crop breeding