Six others also died. The aircraft was identified as a 40-year-old U.S.-built Bell 212 model, according to Reuters. Iran media said the cause was a technical failure, the New York Times reported.

The Bell 212 family includes four variants—the Pratt & Whitney PT6T-3B Twin-Pac powered Bell 212, 212 IAF, 212HP, and the single-engine 212S that is powered by a Honeywell T53-17 A/B.

The US developed the Bell 212 in the mid-1960s in cooperation with the Canadian government, according to WeaponsSystem.net, and it was first put into service in 1971. Production ended in 1998.

The helicopter that crashed in Iran on Sunday, killing the country's president and foreign minister in mountain fog, was a Bell 212 model, Iranian state media reported.

According to SLAF Media Spokesperson Group Captain Eranda Geeganage, a Bell 212 helicopter with a crew of 12 was on a routine mission when it went down in the lagoon area of Maduru Oya. The crash ...