TEHRAN: A Boeing 727 airliner with state-run IranAir crashed Sunday near a northwestern city in bad weather and broke into pieces, killing at least 72 of the 105 people on board, state media reported. “The plane crash has killed 72 people and injured 33,” Fars news agency reported, quoting the coroner's office of West Azerbaijan province where the plane came down. The plane crashed near the northwestern city of Orumiyeh at around 7:45 P.M. (1615 GMT), an official in West Azerbaijan province said, quoted on state television's website. “The airplane took off an hour later than scheduled time from Tehran toward Orumiyeh and because of bad weather conditions came down in a village area near Orumiyeh,” the unidentified official said. The governor general of West Azerbaijan, Vahid Jalalzadeh, told state television that “all the bodies and the injured have been transferred to different hospitals in the city” of Orumiyeh. Giving sketchy details of the crash, Jalalzadeh said the pilot had lost contact with the airport before the airliner disappeared off the radar. An Iranian Red Crescent official told state television that the plane hit the ground and broke into pieces. “Thankfully there was no fire,” he said. Television footage of the crash showed the airliner broken into three pieces which lay buried in thick snow. IranAir spokesman Shahrokh Noushabadi said, “We are examining the reason for the crash, but bad weather appears to be the main cause.” An official with the Transport Ministry told state television that one of the aircraft's two black boxes had been recovered, and this would help determine the cause of the crash. – Agence France
