An Iranian commercial plane crashed on Sunday in a mountainous region of southern Iran amid bad weather, killing all 65 passengers and crew on board, state media reported on Sunday.
An Aseman Airlines ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near its destination of the southern Iranian city of Yasuj, some 780 kilometres south of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 left Tehran around 0800 (0430 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.
Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the Iranian carrier had told state television everyone was killed, but the airline then issued a statement saying it could not reach the crash site and could not “accurately and definitely confirm” everyone died.
Emergency services had yet to locate the precise location of the crash.
“The rescue and relief teams were sent to the possible area of the crash… but the helicopter could not continue its path due to snow and blizzard,” Jalal Pooranfar, regional head for Iran’s emergency services, told the ISNA news agency.
He said teams were being sent by land. “Right now there are five rescue and relief teams of the emergency service in the area. But they still haven’t spotted anything,” said Pooranfar.
The Relief and Rescue Organisation of Iran’s Red Crescent said it had also sent 12 teams to the region.
