Plane Crash In Iran Kills
168 People
An
Iranian passenger plane carrying nearly 168 people
crashed shortly after take off on Wednesday,
crashing into a field northwest of the capital and
shattering to pieces.
According to reports, the plane's tail burst into
flames in the air and the aircraft circled as if
looking for a place to land before it crashed.
The impact gouged a deep trench in the dirt field,
which was littered with smoking wreckage and body
parts.
The Caspian Airlines Tupolev jet had taken off from
Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport and was
headed to the Armenian capital Yerevan.
The Casualty
The deputy chairman of Armenia's civil aviation
authority Arsen Pogosian told reporters in Yerevan
there were 154 passengers and 15 crew members on
board the TU-154M Russian-made plane.
Also among the passengers were eight members of
Iran's national youth judo team, along with two
trainers and a delegation chief, who were scheduled
to train with the Armenian judo team before
attending competitions in Hungary on August 6.
Frequent crashes
The cause of the crash was not immediately known,
but Iran has frequent crashes that are blamed on
poor maintenance of its aging fleet.
In February 2006, a Russian-made TU-154 operated by
Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran's
national carrier, crashed during landing in Tehran,
killing 29 of the 148 people on board. Another
Airtour Tupolev crashed in 2002 in the mountains of
western Iran, killing all 199 on board.
The crashes have also affected Iran's military. In
December 2005, 115 people were killed when a
U.S.-made C-130 plane, crashed into a 10-story
building near Tehran's Mehrabad airport. In November
2007, a Russian-made Iranian military plane crashed
shortly after take off killing 36 members of the
elite Revolutionary Guards.
State reaction
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a statement
expressing condolences for the deaths and urging a
swift investigation of the cause.
AP/Saint/Yinka