Plane wreckage believed to be found

THE WRECKAGE of the Aseman Airlines flight from Tehran that disappeared from radar screens 50 minutes after take off on Sunday was found near Dengezlu city, in Semirom county, in Isfahan province.

This according to the deputy governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province.

A few minutes after he spoke, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation said it could not confirm the wreckage had been discovered.

None of the 65 people on board are expected to have survived.

“We are facing a total enigma. We do not know anything about the crash,” Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi said.

Iran asked European countries and China to help the search with satellite imagery, Iranian Space Agency deputy head Mojtaba Saradeghi said.

Low temperatures and mountainous terrain hampered rescue teams.

Helicopters and mountain rescue personnel from the armed forces and the Red Crescent, as well as local volunteers, were involved in the search, state television reported

“Five units started the search operation in the early hours of the morning, in -16 degree (Celcius) weather,” a local Red Crescent official said.

Military reconnaissance drones were also searching the area.

The twin-engined turboprop ATR 72 was just over 24 years old. According to data cited by the Flight Safety Foundation’s aviation-safety.net website, it had been restored to service just three months ago after being in storage for six years.

Planemaker ATR said the cause of the accident was not yet known. Based in the French city of Toulouse, ATR is a joint venture between Airbus (AIR.PA) and Italy’s Leonardo (LDOF.MI).

Iran has suffered several plane crashes in the past few decades. Tehran blames US sanctions for preventing it from importing new aircraft or spare parts. A deal with world powers on Iran’s nuclear program has lifted some of those sanctions, opening the way for Iranian airlines to update their fleets.

Aseman signed a deal last year to buy at least 30 Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX jets. National carrier Iran Air has ordered 80 planes from Boeing and 100 from Airbus.

A Boeing 727 plane crashed in northwestern Iran in 2011, killing 78 people, and a Caspian Airlines Tupolev bound for Armenia crashed in 2009, killing 168.

In February 2003, an Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in southeast Iran, killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew.