《TAIPEI TIMES》 Sixty-six people feared dead after Iranian plane crash

/ AFP, TEHRAN

All 66 people on board an Iranian passenger plane were feared dead yesterday after it crashed into the country’s Zagros mountains, with emergency services struggling to locate the wreckage in blizzard conditions.

Aseman Airlines Flight EP3704 left Tehran about 8am for the city of Yasuj, about 500km to the south, the airline’s public relations chief Mohammad Tabatabai told state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

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The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service since 1993, disappeared from radar about 45 minutes after takeoff from Mehrabad International Airport.

The plane was carrying 60 passengers, including one child, as well as six crew, Tabatabai said.

“After searches in the area, unfortunately we were informed that the plane crashed. Unfortunately, our dear ones lost their lives in this incident,” he said.

However, he later retracted his statement, telling the Iranian Students’ News Agency News Agency （ISNA）: “We still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers.”

There were conflicting reports on the 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 ISNA.

“Right now there are five rescue and relief teams of the emergency service in the area, but they still haven’t spotted anything,” Pooranfar said.

The Relief and Rescue Organization of Iran’s Red Crescent said it had sent 12 teams to the region.

Aseman has a fleet of 36 planes, including at least three ATR-72s that date back to the early 1990s, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

A spokesman for ATR, a subsidiary of Europe’s Airbus, said in Paris that the company was “researching the details” of yesterday’s crash.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES