Thirteen of 16 people killed in a plane accident in northeastern Iran on Friday were crew and the three others were passengers, Iran’s state TV reported yesterday.
The passenger plane, an Ilyushin Il-62 from Kazakhstan leased by Iran’s Aria Aviation Company, veered from the runway and hit a wall while landing at Mashhad’s Hasheminejad Airport.
Iranian media said 30 people were injured in the accident and they were being treated at three hospitals in the same city.
PHOTO: EPA
“Nine of the cresw members killed in the incident were citizens of Kazakhstan and the remaining four were Iranians,” Reza Jafarzadeh, the spokesman of Iran’s aviation organization told the official IRNA news agency yesterday.
There were 153 people on board the aircraft, which had flown to Mashhad from Tehran. Iran’s TV showed images of the plane with its front completely damaged and said the accident was because of a malfunction in the aircraft’s wheels.
Iranian media reported that the pilot was among the dead.
State TV said the flying license of Aria Aviation Company had been suspended until an investigation into the plane crash was completed. Mashhad is a popular pilgrimage destination for Shiite Muslims who make up the majority of Iran’s population.
On July 15, a Russian-built Tupolev aircraft crashed in Iran on its way to Armenia, after catching fire mid-air and plowing into farmland, killing all 168 people on board. That accident, in which six Armenian and two Georgian citizens were killed, was the worst plane crash in Iran for six years.
Air safety experts have said Iran has a poor record, with a string of crashes in the past few decades — many involving Russian-made aircraft.
US sanctions against Iran have prevented it from buying new aircraft or spares from the West, forcing it to supplement its aging fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes with aircraft from the former Soviet Union.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization spokesman said a team of experts was investigating the incident and the public would be notified soon about the cause of the incident.
A senior transport official said on Friday that the incoming aircraft had overshot the runway.
“Instead of landing at the beginning of the tarmac, the plane landed in the middle of the runway,” the ISNA news agency quoted deputy transport minister Ahmad Majidi as saying. “Because the tarmac’s length is short, it went off the tarmac and crashed into the opposite wall.”
Iran’s TV showed images of the plane with its front completely damaged and said the accident was because of a malfunction in the aircraft’s wheels.
Iranian media reported that the pilot was among the dead.
State TV said the flying license of Aria Aviation Company had been suspended until an investigation into the plane crash was completed. Mashhad is a popular pilgrimage destination for Shiite Muslims who make up the majority of Iran’s population.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese