An Iranian passenger plane skidded off the runway and smashed its wing on the ground, sparking a fire as it landed in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Friday, killing 29 people, Iran's aviation chief said. His comments corrected an earlier report of 80 dead, which had come from state-run television. The plane, carrying 148 people, slid off the runway, "then its left wing hit the ground and caught fire," Nourollah Rezai Niaraki, chairman of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, said in an interview on state television. The flight, by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated to Iran's national air carrier, originated in Bandar Abbas, in the south of the country. Footage at Mashhad's airport showed rescue workers carrying bodies on stretchers from the badly charred central portion of the Russian-built Tu-154, a three-engine jetliner. The aircraft did not appear to be on fire, but firefighters doused its engines using hoses. Dozens of bodies lay nearby covered with blankets, the Associated Press reported.
