Iran plane crash: First images of airliner wreckage shows parts of jet scattered across mountainside

Search and rescue teams are looking for the aircraft’s black box

The ATR-72 twin-engine passenger plane crashed with 65 passengers and crew near the city of Isfahan (EPA)

Iranian state television has aired footage of the plane crash site where 65 people died.

Search and rescue teams are looking for the aircraft’s black box in the hope of finding out what caused the crash.

The Aseman Airlines flight came down in the Zagros mountains in the west of Iran and images show the crash site on the side of a snow-covered mountain.

The area is too dangerous for helicopters to land, forcing rescue crews to conduct the operation from the hovering aircraft. The site is at an altitude of around 3,500 metres.

A helicopter pilot interviewed by state television said the crash site appeared to be only 30 metres from a peak on Mount Dena.

"Some large parts of the plane, which were labelled with the Aseman company logo, were seen," said the pilot, identified by state TV only as Captain Soheili.

Authorities are hoping to recover black boxes, which are often painted in a bright colour to allow searchers to easily find it, to gain access to a record of cockpit conversations and radio transmissions.

"If the conditions are right, the black box will be taken out of the plane today and will be delivered to Aseman Airlines," the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Masoud As'adi Samani, the secretary of Iran's Air Society Association, as saying.

The Aseman Airlines ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down in foggy weather. All on board Flight EP3704 were killed, including 59 passengers and six crew members.

Agencies contributed to this report