Iranian cargo plane crashes into Karaj houses
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
A Boeing 707 cargo plane belonging to the Iranian military crashed into houses in Karaj, near Tehran, the Iranian capital, yesterday. All but one of the sixteen on-board died; no deaths were reported on the ground, with local media reporting no-one was in the houses.
The aircraft came down into a residential area between Fath Airport, where it was attempting to land, and Payam International Airport. Fath Airport is owned by the Revolutionary Guards. State media reported the cockpit voice recorder was recovered. The army said the plane was bringing meat from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan "to help the country's economy."
Fars News said the crash involved pilot error. The lone survivor was a flight engineer. The entire crew were Iranians, the army said. Press TV said the crash was followed by a fire. Photographs showed the aircraft, sans wings, with the cockpit buried within a house and twisted engine parts strewn around.
Iran's air fleet is ageing, with sanctions restricting the purchase of both new planes and parts to maintain those already owned.
Sources[edit]
- Parisa Hafezi. "Military cargo plane crashes in Iran, 15 killed" — Reuters, January 14, 2019
- "Iran cargo plane crash 'leaves 15 dead' near Tehran" — BBC News Online, January 14, 2019
- Helen Regan, Shirzad Bozorgmehr, Jaide Garcia. "Cargo plane crashes in Iran, killing at least 15" — CNN, January 14, 2019