Iranian plane crashes into mountain, all 66 people on board feared dead, state TV says

Flight was reportedly carrying 60 passengers, including a child, and six crew when it went down

Sixty-six people are feared to have been killed in a plane crash in southern Iran, according to state TV.

The flight was reportedly carrying 60 passengers, including one child, and six crew members when it crashed into the side of Mount Dena near the remote town of Semirom, around 390 miles south of the capital, Tehran.

The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, was on its way to the city of Yasuj in the country’s south.

Due to foggy conditions, rescue helicopters couldn’t reach the crash site in the Zagros Mountains, state TV reported.

The Iranian Red Crescent has been deployed to the area, but nobody has yet found the crash site, officials say.

The carrier, Aseman Airlines, is a semi-private firm headquartered in Tehran that specialises in flights to remote airfields across the country. It also flies internationally.

The carrier has a fleet of 29 aircraft, including six aircraft from the Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, according to FlightRadar24, a plane-tracking website. It is Iran’s third-largest airline by fleet size, behind state carrier Iran Air and Mahan Air.

Under decades of international sanctions, Iran’s commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly in recent years.

Following the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed deals with both Airbus and Boeing to buy scores of passenger planes.

In April 2017, ATR sealed a $536m (£382m) sale with Iran Air for at least 20 aircraft. Chicago-based Boeing also signed a $3bn deal that month to sell 30 737 MAX aircraft to Aseman Airlines.

Reuters