Sri Lanka declares May 21 as national day of mourning for Iranian President
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka declared a national mourning day on Tuesday (21), expressing solidarity with Iran over the sudden death of its president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
President Raisi and eight others including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian were killed in the crash when the helicopter they were travelling in made a “hard landing” reportedly due to adverse weather conditions. However, the president’s two convoy helicopters reached the destination safely.
The Department of Government Information, in a statement issued on Monday (20) said the government had declared Tuesday as a day of national mourning for Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and that the National Flag will be flown at half-mast in all national institutions.
Raisi was in Sri Lanka on a one-day official visit to launch the Uma Oya dam on April 24.
The Iranian president and his high-profile entourage were returning after a similar event, the launch of a dam in the Azerbaijan border region, which the helicopter they were travelling in crashed near the village of Uzi, in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
President Raisi is seen as a hardliner and a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe expressed his condolences over the tragic incident and wrote on his official X-platform, “Sri Lanka is deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian and other senior Irani officials.
“I express my deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to the bereaved families, the government and the people of Iran.”
Raisi, a Muslim jurist, served as the eighth president of Iran from 2021 until his death.
-ENCL/economynext.com
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