Iran cannot confirm missing plane found,
freeze hampers search
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[February 19, 2018]
LONDON (Reuters) - The wreckage of
an Iranian plane that crashed with 65 people on board was found in
central Iran, state media said on Monday, but aviation authorities could
not confirm the report.
The Aseman Airlines flight from Tehran disappeared from radar screens on
Sunday 50 minutes into its journey to the southwestern city of Yasuj. It
is believed to have gone down in a mountainous area near the town of
Semirom.
No one is expected to have survived.
The deputy governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province was quoted by
state media as saying the wreckage was found near Dengezlu city, in
Semirom county, in Isfahan province.
A few minutes later, Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation said it could
not confirm the wreckage had been discovered.
"We are facing a total enigma. We do not know anything about the crash,"
Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi was quoted
as saying by Tasnim news agency shortly after his arrival in Semirom.
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Iran asked European countries and China to help the search with
satellite imagery, Iranian Space Agency deputy head Mojtaba Saradeghi
was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.
A member of the Red Crescent rescue team was quoted as saying by ISNA
news agency that "a dark spot" had been seen near Dengezlu village that
"might be a trace to the crashed plane".
ISNA did not elaborate.
GLACIAL TEMPERATURES
Glacial temperatures and mountainous terrain hampered rescue teams.
Helicopters and mountain rescue personnel from the armed forces and the
Red Crescent, as well as local volunteers, were involved in the search,
state television reported
"Five units started the search operation in the early hours of the
morning, in -16 degrees," a local Red Crescent official was quoted as
saying by IRNA news agency, reporting minus 16 degrees Celsius or 3.2
degrees Fahrenheit.
Military reconnaissance drones were also searching the area.
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![](../images/021918pics/news_o27.jpg)
Emergency and rescue helicopter searches for the plane that crashed
in a mountainous area of central Iran, February 19, 2018.
REUTERS/Tasnim News Agency
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The twin-engined turboprop ATR 72 was just over 24 years old.
According to data cited by the Flight Safety Foundation’s
aviation-safety.net website, it had been restored to service just
three months ago after being in storage for six years.
Planemaker ATR said the cause of the accident was not yet known.
Based in the French city of Toulouse, ATR is a joint venture between
Airbus <AIR.PA> and Italy's Leonardo <LDOF.MI>.
Iran has suffered several plane crashes in the past few decades.
Tehran blames U.S. sanctions for preventing it from importing new
aircraft or spare parts.
A deal with world powers on Iran's nuclear program has lifted some
of those sanctions, opening the way for Iranian airlines to update
their fleets.
Aseman signed a deal last year to buy at least 30 Boeing <BA.N> 737
MAX jets. National carrier Iran Air has ordered 80 planes from
Boeing and 100 from Airbus.
A Boeing 727 plane crashed in northwestern Iran in 2011, killing 78
people, and a Caspian Airlines Tupolev bound for Armenia crashed in
2009, killing 168.
In February 2003, an Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in southeast
Iran, killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew.
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(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Additional reporting by Tim
Hepher in Paris; Editing by Robin Pomeroy, William Maclean)
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