All 94 people on crashed Iran plane feare
Güncelleme Tarihi:
An Iranian military plane carrying at least 94 people crashed into a densely populated district of Tehran on Tuesday, setting fire to an apartment block housing about 250 residents, a local government official said.The official, who asked not to be named, said all 94 people on the C-130 transport aircraft were feared dead.
"The lives of 250 people are at risk," he added, referring to the residents of the 10-storey building hit by the plane.
The semi-official Fars News agency said at least 40 bodies had been retrieved from the crash site in southern Tehran.
"All the people on the plane must be dead. It was horrible, all the bodies were burned and crushed," a policeman at the scene said.
But another policeman said at least one man had been pulled alive from the wreckage. He said the survivor, who had been on the plane, was on fire but that he and other rescuers had extinguished the flames with a blanket.
"It is awful down here. I am suffocating," Red Crescent official Shahram Alamdari told Reuters by telephone.
The official IRNA news agency said 94 people were on board the plane. Fars put the number at 106.
IRNA said the plane was bound for the southern port of Bandar Abbas and most of the passengers were local journalists who were going to cover military exercises in the region.
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ENGINE TROUBLE
The pilot had reported engine trouble and requested an emergency landing at Tehran's Mehrabad international airport, police told state television.
The apartment block is in the Shahrak-e Towhid neighbourhood inhabited by members of the military and their families. It lies on the flightpath to Mehrabad airport.
"I was sitting in my shop when I saw an airplane moving in the wrong way," said a resident who gave his name as Mohsen.
"We are used to airplanes but I thought: 'Oh my God, this one is going to crash'. Then it struck the building with a big bang and smoke came pouring out," he said.
Police cordoned off the area, trying to keep back scores of anxious residents trying to push past them.
Emergency services were using helicopters, ambulances and buses to evacuate the dead and wounded. Bulldozers also arrived at the scene. Smoke was still pouring out of the building.
Military officials could not be reached for information.
In Iran's last major military air disaster, an Iranian Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in the southeast of the country on Feb. 19, 2003, killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew aboard. (Additional reporting by Alireza Ronaghi and Parinoosh Arami)