Cargo plane crashes in Iran with several onboard: army
Cargo plane crashes in Iran with several onboard: army
A military cargo plane crashed near the Iranian capital Tehran, the army said on Monday, with local media reporting at least ten people on-board.
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At least 10 people were onboard the military cargo plane [Getty]
At least ten people were onboard a military cargo plane that crashed near the Iranian capital Tehran, the army said on Monday.
The Fars news agency, considered close to the military, said there were 16 people onboard and that only the flight engineer had survived.
State broadcaster IRIB earlier said there were 10 people on the plane, without confirming any casualties.
"A (Boeing) cargo 707 place carrying meat took off from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and had an emergency landing at Fath airport this morning," the army said in a statement on its website.
Fath airport is in Alborz province, just north-west of Tehran.
"It exited the runway during the landing and caught fire after hitting the wall at the end of the runway," the army statement said.
State broadcaster IRIB showed footage of burning wreckage, while several agencies showed teams of rescue workers around the charred fuselage.
"Details of the accident and martyrdom or injury of the flight team is still being investigated," the army said.
The crash was yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying necessary airplane parts due to Western sanctions over its contested nuclear programme, forcing Iranians to fly in ageing aircraft. It has also reawakened concerns about aviation safety in Iran.
In February, all 66 people on board an Iranian passenger plane died on after it crashed into the country's Zagros Mountains.
Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 left Tehran around 8am (4:30am GMT) for the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the south, the airline's public relations chief Mohammad Tabatabai told state broadcaster IRIB.
The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service since 1993, disappeared from radar around 45 minutes after takeoff from the capital's Mehrabad airport.
Aseman Airlines was blacklisted by the European Commission in December 2016 - one of only three worldwide to be barred over safety concerns.
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