Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Iran crews reach plane’s crash site

- AMIR VAHDAT

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian search and rescue teams on Monday reached the site of a plane crash that authoritie­s say killed all 65 people on board, Iran’s Press TV reported.

The Aseman Airlines ATR72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down Sunday in foggy weather, crashing into Mount Dena in a remote area of southern Iran. The airline said all on board Flight EP3704 were killed, including six crew members.

The crash of the aircraft, brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years, was yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying necessary airplane parts due to Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program.

Press TV said search teams reached the crash site before dawn Monday. The station said the weather had improved, though it was still windy. The semioffici­al Tasnim news agency cited the military as saying Russia had helped locate the crash site. Russia and Iran are close military allies.

Press TV broadcast footage of a helicopter joining the search and showed ambulances and rescue vehicles preparing to reach the site on Mount Dena, which is about 14,400 feet high. The crash site is reportedly at 11,500 feet.

Other Iranian news outlets and officials did not confirm that the crash site had been reached. State radio said five helicopter­s and five drones were active in the search operation.The semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency said more than 150 climbers have joined the operation.

Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi left Tehran on Monday to visit the site of the crash, state TV reported. Footage posted on independen­t news websites showed him in the cockpit of a plane taking part in the search. State TV quoted him as saying the cause of the crash was still “not clear.”

Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organizati­on, said a seven-member delegation from France was to arrive in Tehran on Monday to investigat­e the cause of the crash, the staterun Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Jafarzadeh said the delegation includes four officials from French-Italian aircraft manufactur­er ATR.

High winds have made it difficult to fly helicopter­s and drones, hampering search efforts.

The 2015 nuclear accord with world powers lifted internatio­nal sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear enrichment program, allowing Iran to purchase airplanes and airplane parts. The country has since signed deals to purchase tens of billions of dollars’ worth of new aircraft. However, President Donald Trump’s refusal to recertify the deal has injected uncertaint­y into those sales.

The ATR-72 went down near its destinatio­n, the southern city of Yasuj, some 485 miles south of the capital, where it took off.

It wasn’t immediatel­y clear what caused the crash, although weather was severe. Dense fog, high winds and heavy snow in the Zagros Mountains made it impossible for rescue crews in helicopter­s to reach the site in the immediate aftermath, state TV reported.

Aseman Airlines spokesman Mohammad Taghi Tabatabai told state TV that all on board Flight EP3704 were killed. The plane had 59 passengers and six crew members, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported late Sunday, lowering the initially reported death toll of 66.

The United States expressed condolence­s over the crash in a Farsi-language statement posted on social media Sunday.

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