Half of passengers survive Iranair jet crash
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An Iranair passenger plane crashed in the north-west of the country yesterday, but about half of the 95 people on board survived with only light injuries.
The Boeing 727 operated by the national airline crashed at 7.45pm local time (4.15pm GMT), shortly before it was to land in the city of Orumiyeh, 460 miles north-west of the capital, Tehran, said Abbas Mosayebi, a spokesman for the civil aviation organisation.
The semi-official Fars news agency quoted the head of the State Emergency Centre, Gholam Reza Masoumi, as saying 50 people survived with light injuries. There was no information about the fate of the others. Mr Masoumi said heavy snow was complicating rescue efforts and that there was fog in the area. The plane was broken into several pieces, but there was no explosion or fire.
Iran has a history of frequent air accidents blamed on its ageing aircraft and poor maintenance. In July 2009 a Russian-made jetliner crashed in north-west of the country shortly after taking off from the capital, killing all 168 on board.
In February 2003, a Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the Revolutionary Guard crashed in the mountains of south-eastern Iran, killing 302 people aboard.
IranAir's fleet includes Boeing and Airbus aircraft, many of them bought before the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The airline also has some Russian-made Tupolev 145 jets.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments