State media report President Raisi's death after helicopter crash

President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi prays after a meeting with a group of benefactors and officials of charitable institutions. -/Iranian Presidency/dpa

All nine people on board of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter which crashed in the country's north-west have died, the state news agency IRNA and state television have reported.

Raisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian are among the nine dead, according to state media.

On Monday morning IRNA published images taken by a drone showing debris from what appears to be a completely destroyed aircraft on a steep slope in the middle of the forest.

Raisi and Amirabdollahian were travelling back from a meeting with the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, when their aircraft disappeared from radar on Sunday afternoon.