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A passenger aircraft (TU-154) has crashed in north western Iran and up to 169 people on board were feared dead, ISNA news agency has reported.
“153 passengers along with 16 crew were on the plane that crashed,” ISNA said, without giving a source.
Earlier, Iranian state television said that all 150 people on board had been killed.
The Caspian Airlines aircraft was travelling from Tehran to Yerevan in Armenia when it came down at 7.03am GMT near the city of Qazvin, the official IRNA news agency said.
Iran’s English-language Press TV said in a scrolling news headline: “150 people on board crashed Iran plane believed dead”.
A fire brigade official earlier told IRNA that everyone on board was killed.
IRNA quoted an Iranian aviation spokesman saying a the plane crashed 16 minutes after take-off from the capital’s Imam Khomeini International airport.
Caspian Airlines is a Russian-Iranian joint venture founded in 1993.
Iran has frequent plane crashes, which it blames on US sanctions on the country that prevent it from getting spare parts for aging airplanes.
But Caspian Airlines uses Russian-made aircraft whose maintenance would be less impaired by American sanctions.
Source: SKY NEWS
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