South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has mourned the passing of his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and other officials in a helicopter crash on Sunday, describing the incident as an “unthinkable tragedy”.
Raisi died together with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and seven other officials when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous and forested area of the country in poor weather.
A total of nine people, including a provincial governor, were on board when the aircraft went down in northern Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
In a statement on Monday, Ramaphosa said he was “deeply saddened” by the air disaster that claimed the lives of Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian and others.
“This is an extraordinary, unthinkable tragedy that has claimed a remarkable leader of a nation with whom South Africa enjoys strong bilateral relations and whom we were honoured to welcome to the BRICS fold in Johannesburg in 2023,” Ramaphosa said.
Iran is one of six new countries invited last year to join the BRICS group of emerging nations that previously comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Other countries that became BRICS member states on 1 January 2024 are Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Argentina spurned the invitation to join BRICS, saying it was not the “opportune” moment for Argentina to join as a full member.
