The Russian-made Tupolev airliner was en route from Tehran to Yerevan when it crashed on a farm near the city of Qazvin, 16 minutes after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, the state IRNA news agency said. Qazvin emergency services told the agency that the plane was completely destroyed, and the wreckage burst into flames, leaving no hope of survivors.
According to the Armenian foreign ministry, some 40 passengers on the ill-fated plane were ethnic Armenians, but only five of them had Armenian citizenship. Two Georgian nationals were also onboard - the wife of the head of Georgia's mission to Iran and a financial official at the Georgian embassy in Armenia.
Other passengers on the list were Iranians, including eight athletes with Iran's national youth judo team and two coaches.
Emergency services said the plane was completely destroyed. The plane, which fell from a height of about 8,000 km, has created a six-meter deep crater.
The crash is believed to have been caused by a fire in one of the engines, Armenian state television reported, without naming sources. Meanwhile, Iran's English-language Press TV said that the aircraft had attempted an emergency landing due to a technical malfunction, but the plane burst into flames and crashed.
All the equipment installed on the plane, produced some 15 years ago, was in line with the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
Thursday has been declared a nationwide day of mourning in Armenia.
A number of foreign heads of state, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, have offered their condolences.
A Tupolev Tu-154M jet of Iran's Caspian Airlines.
