Iran: Plane crash kills at least 70 during emergency landing (VIDEO)
An IranAir plane carrying 106 people crashed in Iran Sunday as it attempted to make an emergency landing, killing at least 70.
The passenger jet, traveling from Tehran to Orumiyeh, the capital of West Azerbaijan province, tried to land after announcing a technical failure to the control tower, the AP reports. It crashed around 16:15 GMT, as reported by Al Jazeera.
In snow and darkness, rescue workers and farmers searched for survivors Sunday night. The weather conditions made the rescue efforts more difficult.
Javed Mahmoudi, a deputy governor for West Azerbaijan, told State TV that 35 people survived, including two crew members. The semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that the crash killed all crew members.
The IranAir jet was a Boeing 727, which has been out of production in the United States since 1984, according to Al Jazeera.
"Iranian airlines have frequent incidents of aircraft failure due to an aging fleet and poor maintenance. Many of the planes still in operation, especially the Boeings, were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution," states the Huffington Post. "Since, U.S. sanctions have made the replacement and upkeep of these planes difficult. Another steep price ordinary Iranians have to pay for the political situation they find themselves in."
The last major crash in Iran killed 168 when a Caspian Airlines Tupolev plane bound for Armenia caught fire mid-air and crashed near Qazvin in July 2009.
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!