Bad weather hampers Iran plane hunt
TEHERAN: Iranian rescue teams battled severe weather yesterday as they searched for the wreckage of a passenger plane that disappeared high in the Zagros mountains the previous day with 65 people on board.
Several helicopters deployed at dawn to hunt for Aseman Airlines Flight EP3704 were forced to return to base, officials said.
“Unfortunately, due to strong winds and fog reducing visibility, it was not possible for helicopters to continue their search,” a Red Crescent official told the ISNA news agency.
Officials said hundreds of mountaineers, supported by dogs and drones, were operating around the 4,409m Dena mountain, which was popular with Iranians seeking to prepare for climbing in the Himalayas.
The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service since 1993, flew early on Sunday from Mehrabad airport towards Yasuj, some 500km to the south.
The plane’s emergency locator transmitter was reportedly not functioning, explaining the difficulty in finding the wreckage.
Families of the passengers travelled to the area and were giving DNA samples for later identification of victims, IRNA said.
A team of crash investigators from French air safety agency BEA was set to arrive in Iran.
An ATR-72 crashed in similar icy conditions in Indiana, the United States, in 1994, leading some operators to avoid cold weather conditions.
“It is a very safe aircraft, but... operators decided not to use it in cold mountain areas in the US,” said Iranian aviation expert Babak Taghvaee.
“Even newer versions of this aircraft are not good for such cold places and it would be better not to use it for this route and especially with such bad weather and visibility.”
Aseman Airlines was blacklisted by the European Commission in December 2016.
It was one of only three airlines barred over safety concerns. The other 190 were blacklisted due to broader concerns over oversight in their countries.
Iran complained that US sanctions jeopardised the safety of its airlines, making it difficult to maintain ageing fleets.