Plane crash in Iran kills 39 on board

Engine failure brings aircraft down shortly after takeoff from Teheran

A regional passenger plane assembled in Iran crashed on Sunday while taking off from Teheran, killing 39 and injuring another nine on board, according to a senior transportation official and state media.

The Iran-140 operated by domestic carrier Sepahan Air crashed in a residential area near Teheran's Mehrabad Airport. State TV said the plane's tail struck the cables of an electricity tower before it hit the ground and burst into flames. The official IRNA news agency said the plane suffered an engine failure before it went down.

Deputy Minister of Transportation Ahmad Majidi provided the casualty figures in an appearance on state TV. The channel earlier had reported that all 48 people onboard had died.

The crash happened shortly after the plane took off at 9:20 am local time (12:50 pm China time), bound for the town of Tabas in eastern Iran.

Members of the Revolutionary Guard worked to secure the crash site, and security and rescue personnel combed the wreckage as onlookers gathered shortly after the plane went down. The plane's mangled but largely intact tail section was torn from the fuselage and came to rest on a nearby road.

The Iran-140 is a twin-engine turboprop plane based on Ukrainian technology that is assembled under license in Iran. It is a version of the Antonov An-140 regional plane and can carry up to 52 passengers.

Mehrabad, located in western Teheran, is the busier of two main airports serving the Iranian capital, and primarily handles domestic flights. Most international flights use the newer Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Iran has suffered a series of airplane crashes that have been blamed on its aging aircraft and poor maintenance. Many of the Boeing aircraft of state-run Iran Air were bought before the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which disrupted ties with the US and Europe.

Iranian airlines, including those run by the state, are chronically strapped for cash, and maintenance has suffered, experts say. US sanctions prevent Iran from updating its American aircraft and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well. The country has come to rely on Russian aircraft, many of them Soviet-era planes that are harder to get parts for since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

In March of this year, a small plane belonging to the State Aviation Organization crashed while on a test flight near the tourist resort of Kish Island, killing all four crew members.

The last major airliner crash in Iran happened in January 2011, when an Iran Air Boeing 727 broke to pieces on impact while trying an emergency landing in a snowstorm in northwestern Iran, killing at least 77 people.

In July 2009, a Russian-made jetliner crashed in northwest Iran shortly after taking off from the capital, killing all 168 on board.