A Boeing 707 military cargo plane crashed in bad weather on Monday west of the Iranian capital, killing 15 out of the 16 people on board, the Iranian army said
A flight engineer survived and was taken to hospital, the army said in a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency.
The plane went down near Fath airport, near Karaj in the central Iranian province of Alborz. Iran’s emergency authority has said the jet hit residential areas near Safadasht, a small city in Tehran province.
“A Boeing cargo 707 place carrying meat from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan had an emergency landing at Fath airport today … the flight engineer has been dispatched to the hospital,” the army said.
“It exited the runway during the landing and caught fire after hitting the wall at the end of the runway,” the army.
The army’s statement came after some confusion over who owned the plane. Earlier on Monday, a spokesman for Iran’s civil aviation told had told state TV that the plane belonged to Kyrgyzstan, while a spokeswoman for Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airport said the plane belonged to Iran’s Payam Air.
Fars News has uploaded photos and videos purportedly showing the aftermath of the crash. The 707 apparently broke apart and caught fire on impact.
Iran’s Red Crescent Society has dispatched eight rescue teams, including several ambulances and a helicopter, to the site.
Reportedly 16 people were on board. Eight bodies have been retrieved from the plane so far.
The reason for the incident has yet to be clarified by the authorities. In the meantime, local media reports are also suggesting that the catastrophe was caused by severe weather conditions.
