168 Killed in Iran Plane Crash

Caspian Airlines Plane Crashes after Takeoff in Iran's Worst Air Disaster in 6 Years

(CBS/ AP)  A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest of the capital and shattering into flaming pieces. All on board were killed in Iran's worst air disaster in six years, officials said.

Before crashing, the plane's tail was on fire as it circled in the air, one witness told The Associated Press.

"Then, I saw the plane crashing nose-down. It hit the ground causing a big explosion. The impact shook the ground like an earthquake. Then, plane pieces were scattered all over the agricultural fields," Ali Akbar Hashemi, a 23-year-old who was laying gas pipes in a nearby home, told AP by phone.

The impact blasted a deep trench in the dirt field, which was littered with smoking wreckage, body parts and personal items from the Tupolev jet, according to photos from the scene. Firefighters put out the flaming wreckage, which officials said was strewn over a 200 yard area. A large chunk of a wing was visible in footage of the scene, but much of the wreckage appeared to be in small shreds.

The Russian-made Tupolev 154 is a Soviet-era workhorse, but the passenger jet has a less-than comforting safety record, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth, and Iran has often been criticized for poor plane maintenance.

Roth reports that Iran has complained that its aviation safety is compromised by U.S. and international trade sanctions. The U.S. sanctions prevent Iran from updating American aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic revolution and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well.

Iranian airlines and the military have turned increasingly to Russian aircraft, which are not affected by sanctions, but have seen a string of accidents. Two other Tupolev crashes in Iran this decade have killed nearly 140 people.

The Caspian Airlines Tu-154M jet had taken off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning and was headed to the Armenian capital Yerevan. It crashed at 11:30 am about 16 minutes after takeoff near the village of Jannat Abad outside the city of Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran, civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told state media.

At Yerevan's airport, Tina Karapetian, 45, said she had been waiting for her sister and the sister's 6- and 11-year-old sons, who were due on the flight. "What will I do without them?" she said, weeping, before she collapsed to the floor.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Hossein Ayaznia, an aviation police official, said emergency workers were searching for the plane's data recorders to get evidence of the cause.

Iran's Jafarzadeh and the deputy chairman of Armenia's civil aviation authority Arsen Pogosian said there were 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane. "In all likelihood, all on board were killed," Pogosian told reporters at Yerevan airport.

Most of the passengers were Iranians, many of them from Iran's large ethnic Armenian community, along with six Armenian citizens and two Georgian citizens, Pogosian said. The two Georgians included a staffer from the Caucasus nation's embassy in Yerevan, Georgia's military attache in the Armenian capital said.

Serob Karapetian, the chief of Yerevan airport's aviation security service, said the plane may have attempted an emergency landing, but reports that it caught fire in the air were "only one version." He did not elaborate. A police official told Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency that several witnesses reported seeing the plane's tail on fire in the air as it circled to find a place to land.

The plane was completely destroyed in the crash and shattered to pieces, Qazvin emergency services director Hossein Behzadpour told the state news agency IRNA.

"The force of the crash was so serious that pieces of the aircraft were thrown over a 200 meter area. Unfortunately, all the bodies were totally destroyed," Behzadpour said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a statement expressing condolences "to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and the families of the dead" over what he called a "heart-wrenching tragedy" and ordered an investigation into the cause. Armenia's president, Serge Sarkisian, also expressed his condolences and declared Thursday a day of mourning.

Also among the passengers were eight members of Iran's national youth judo team, along with two trainers and a delegation chief, who were scheduled to train with the Armenian judo team before attending competitions in Hungary on Aug. 6, state TV said.

The crash is the worst since February 2003, when a Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in the mountains of southeastern Iran, killing 302 people aboard.

Caspian Airlines is an Iranian-Russian joint venture founded in 1993 whose fleet is made up of Tupolevs.

Soviet-built Tupolev and Antonov planes have long been the mainstays of the civil air fleets in Russia and former Soviet republics. Once considered reliable aircraft, the most widely used models - like the Tu-154 - have in recent years gone largely unmodified or updated by aircraft designers.

The Soviet collapse resulted in the sharp decline in government funding for aircraft spare parts manufacturers and for the aircraft manufactures themselves, and many airlines fell behind in maintenance programs for the planes.

Iran has about a dozen Soviet-built Tu-154 airliners. In 2006, Russia negotiated the sale of five Tu-204s to Iran.

In February 2006, a Russian-made Tu-154 operated by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran's national carrier, crashed during landing in Tehran, killing 29 of the 148 people on board. Another Airtour Tupolev crashed in 2002 in the mountains of western Iran, killing all 199 on board.

The crashes have also affected Iran's military. In December 2005, 115 people were killed when a pre-1979 U.S.-made C-130 plane, crashed into a 10-story building near Tehran's Mehrabad airport. In Nov. 2007, a Russian-made Iranian military plane crashed shortly after takeoff killing 36 Revolutionary Guards members.

[outsider123]

alot of pictures have been released to people that no one else has,reguarding the remains,personal property,what thoses loser done with it all,telling that the remains from the site was all smashed up which is a total lie,they will be exposed for what they done

[outsider123]

there is alot of losser here thinking about the people in the plane were bad,2 people alone was from canada,and were ten times better than anyone here posting crap about the crash,alot of things about the crash has not been released and never will but people have found out alot that has happened,example a true fact that there is a video of the plane during crash and after.alot of things are hidden.

[maybrid]

I wanted to write because I am saddened that they haven't acknowledge the loss of 4 Southern California residents who were aboard flight 7908. In the past when an oversea tragedy occurs and one of Californias residents are killed, they are always acknowledged. Even more the 4 live lost were that of a Father and his 3 sons. One of his sons was a well known and beloved gas station owner here in Tustin. All of those including myself who loved Arash "Alex" Alimohammadi feel with his life he deserved to be memorialized. Over the last 4 days tons of flowers, cards and hand written letters have been left in front of his store. Also as a mere comfort to his mother who not only lost her husband but 3 sons as well and to his sisters and brother who know mourn the loss of half of their family here in California. My deepest condolences their loss leaves me with no words to provide comfort. I wanted to acknowledge these 4 California residents who lives were lost in this flight as we already have done here in Tustin. Lives that will never be forgotten by many Tustin residents.
Many Tustin residents feel Alex life was a great one, his heart was that of a giant. To make us feel comfortable in his store was something that was done naturally for him. His smile and hello will be greatly missed.

[mainermike]

This is AS I SEE IT, by Mainer Mike Brown.

Just what Iran needs, more trauma.

That's AS I SEE IT. I'm Mainer Mike Brown.

[curiously1]

Hey gary-hamm, I don't need a ticket to anywhere. Keep you money. You can buy a hooked on phonics set with that money. That will teach you both grammar and basic geography, Billy Bobba !

[tngreen]

Some of the comments on this site convince me more than ever that America is morally bankrupt, and stupid to boot. My heart goes out to the families of the dead aboard this flight, and the rest of you can go to the devil, you freaking morons. And yes, America is to blame when they shut down trade with a nation whose only crime is resisting our expansionist claims on their sovereignty, thus creating economic hardships for innocent peoples.

[rrozsa]

It's not necessarily America who is morally bankrupt; just 90% of those who post on CBS News comment boards.

[rrozsa]

I do take umbrage with your statement "a nation whose only crime is resisting our expansionist claims on their sovereignty".... puh-lease. Economic sanctions are about the only politically correct means we have of protesting their development of nuclear weapons.

[thusspokezara]

President Amadmansjihad will surely blame this on the USA.

[rrozsa]

You didn't read far enough into the article; they ARE blaming it on the US, indirectly:

"Roth reports that Iran has complained that its aviation safety is compromised by U.S. and international trade sanctions. The U.S. sanctions prevent Iran from updating American aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic revolution and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well."

[hungry1968-16]

by gary-hamm July 15, 2009 10:24 AM EDT
Lets see now; When this country had 9/11 and we lost all those souls.
This news agency showed the Irainians dancing is the street and celibrating the death of the innocent.






The Iranian regime was the FIRST to condemn the 9/11 attacks, while Benjamin Netnayahu said the attacks were "good for Israel".

"Keep your friends close......"

[stupa1]

A bit of instant Karma when you when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins an election by fraud!

[DaVicar5]

Yeah, this plane crash had EVERYTHING to do with the election - sure.

[hungry1968-16]

That's Ahmadinejhad's "punishment"?

Killing innocent civilians?

[speakinup22]

hungry and DaVicar - in a way it is. If the more moderate had "won" the election, there would have been a chance that the country MAY have come to its senses and sanctions would have been lifted, thereby making it possible for them to buy Boeing or Airbus.

and hungry - I know ahmadinejad doesn't care about the US citizens, but probably has an affinity for his own.

[gary-hamm]

No brushing up needed BuB,They were all dancing in the streets.I know the facts BUB do you.You sound like you want to stick up for them,why dont you go over there and live BUB.Sounds to me you like the freedom to run your mouth but dont want to live in there world.I'd glady buy you a ticket back to sandville BUB.

[curiously1]

gary-hamm - Theose dancing in the streets following the 9/11 NYC event weren't iraninas. They were iraqis. You should brush up on that geography thing a little more.

[speakinup22]

And Palestinians.

[gary-hamm]

Lets see now; When this country had 9/11 and we lost all those souls.
This news agency showed the Irainians dancing is the street and celibrating the death of the innocent. I'm placing my American flag out front of my home,going to have a BBQ, Call it burnt offerings to Alla.The shoe is on the other foot now.Lets have a parade,floats and marching bands.Theme of the parade "Dead bodys in the Sand" Sounds Great!!

[thinktwicebeforeyoutalk]

just b/c they said it's an Iranian plane doesn't mean they were all Iranians... most were Armenians.
I'm not Iranian, but I know for sure that Iran is not filled with 100% American hating Iranians.
Sorry for the grammar... I just found out my cousin was in that plane.

[Oregon_State_OSU]

This is the fault of Iranian Terrorists.

[zonkzilla]

Chimneyfish is right. Even though the story clearly says it is 75 miles from Tehran, Yerevan is 488 miles from Tehran. Another example of sorry reporting by the so called "media" who never checks anything and doesn't even read a story before they release it. If any of us were so sloppy at our jobs we would be among the 10 million+ unemployed Americans.

[hungry1968-16]

15 crew members on a flight of only 75 miles?!?!

[DaVicar5]

A crew of 15???
Most Cruise Ships don't have a crew that large!

[murrowseye]

If there is poor maintenance, plus an aging Soviet-era aircraft, that is a recipe for something like this. Tupolev has made great aircraft, but I bet you find the cycles this one had are near or beyond any expected life span of the airframe.

[zonkzilla]

75 miles? I would have driven a car. Guess Iranians have more money than Americans.
How can Iran blame the US?
Well that has to be lie, the US doesn't make anything any more.
I think China would be to blame.
This is what happens when you shop on the web and buy the lowest priced parts.
LOL

[thinktwicebeforeyoutalk]

hmmm... you mean drive over mountains and terrain that has no roads... we so easily forget where we live and what we have

[farshad_Isfahan]

God bless all kiiled passengers and crew. Khodayeshan biamorzad.
We Should kill our minister of transportation. he is one of the Ahmadinejad brutal government.For this government the iranian people lives has no value.

[speakinup22]

While you are at it, think about killing the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad too. IF there were no sanctions, then you could be flying in Boeing or Airbus planes. Safer, faster, and more convenient.

But hey, you NEED that nuclear power, right ?

[jumkey]

It's sad for the world that you live in it speakinup22

[CMancos]

"It his highly likely that all the passengers on the flight were killed," Bahzadpour said.


I WONDER, DO THEY HAVE SPELL CHECK AT CBS NEWS?