10 August, 2014

Iran Plane Crashes

A civilian aircraft has crashed just moments after it had taken off from Iran's capital Tehran, according to state media 38 people on board have been killed. 

The aircraft was heading to the eastern city of Tabas from Mehrabad airport, when it crashed into a road at about 9:18am local time on Sunday.   According to witnesses at the scene, the aircraft was very low, with one wing closer to the ground than the other and it then crashed into a road in the Azadi neighbourhood area, a little west of central Tehran. 
ry families.

Initial reports claimed all 48 passengers and crew on board had been killed, however the state media later reported that some passengers had been injured and had been transferred to hospital. The local news report 38 people died instantly and 10 were injured and were transferred to hospital in critical condition.



Iran's deputy transport minister Ahmad Majidi said the Antonov An-140 turboprop plane was run by Sepahan Airlines. Initial investigations point to an engine shutdown as the root cause of the aircraft coming down, however this has yet to be confirmed.

Mehrabad International Airport is near central Tehran and is Iran's main domestic hub, it is by far the busiest of all the country's airports, serving routes to all Iranian cities. Whilst most international flights take off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, which is located further west of the Iranian capital.

This is the latest in a series of accidents to befall the Iranian airline industry in recent years, many of which are blamed on the sanctions placed upon Iran by the International Community. Iranian airlines are banned from buying new aircraft, spare parts are hard to come by and often cannibalized from other aircraft in the country or made from copied parts produced locally.

The average fleet age for the four biggest Iranian airlines (Iran Air Tours, Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines and Mahan Air) is nearly 23 years and many aircraft over 30 years old still flying.

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