At least 80 dead as plane catches fire while landing in Iran

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Sep. 01 – At least 80 people were killed as an Iranian airliner crash-landed in the north-eastern city of Mashad, official media reported. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Sep. 01 – At least 80 people were killed as an Iranian airliner crash-landed in the north-eastern city of Mashad, official media reported.

State television showed footage of the charred plane at the crash site.

The state-run news agency Fars said that the Russian-made Tupelov plane crashed at 14:40 local time.

Some 140 people were aboard the Iran Air plane which was on route from the southern port city of Bandar-Abbass to Mashad, according to Mohammad-Hassan Mortazavi-Far, the logistical chief of airports in Khorassan Province.

The official news agency IRNA said that 147 people were on board the airliner and that at least 80 of them had been killed while some 50 others had made it out alive.

The report said that the plane’s front tyre burst and caught fire due to a mechanical failure while landing. The fire rapidly spread throughout the aircraft.