MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) – More than 40 people died in a plane crash near the Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday, citing Iranian state television.
A passenger plane Iran-141 owned by Taban Airlines was heading to the city of Tabas from Tehran. According to Iran’s IRNA news agency, the plane went down on Sunday at 9:18 a.m. local time (04:48 GMT) to the northwest from Tehran.
The Al-Alam news network reported that the flight was operated by an Antonov An-140 plane. The aircraft crashed right after the takeoff in the densely populated residential area.
Due to sanctions imposed on Iran by the West, international companies are not allowed to import planes to the Islamic country, so Iran designs its own airliners. In 2000 Tehran purchased a manufacturing license from Ukraine for the Russian An-140, based on which the first Iranian passenger plane Iran-140 was designed in 2003. Up to 52 can be on board the aircraft.
Last year Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) announced that a new model of an airliner Iran-141 was designed for carrying out domestic flights. The first planes of this type were produced earlier this March.
