Caspian Airlines Tupolev Crash In Iran Kills 168
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Jens Flottau jflottau@freenet.de
Associated Press has posted raw footage of the crash site, viewable here.
A Tupolev Tu-154 operated by Iranian carrier Caspian Airlines crashed Wednesday in Northern Iran killing all 168 on board.
The aircraft was operating the scheduled Flight 7908 from Tehran to Yerevan, Armenia, but after 16 minutes of flight time hit a field in the Kaswin region.
Eyewitnesses reported to have seen a fire in the rear of the aircraft which allegedly circled in the area for some time, but there has not yet been an official confirmation yet. Debris is scattered only in a small area which may indicate that the aircraft did not break up in flight. The impact caused a deep crater in the field with more debris around it. "The plane is completely destroyed and bodies are burned...." one official told Iran's Mehr news agency.
The aircraft was one of five Tu-154s owned by the airline. According to early unconfirmed reports, the aircraft used the registration EP-CPG. If that is confirmed then the jet was produced in 1987.
Caspian Airlines was founded as a joint venture with Russian and Iranian shareholders in 1993. The airline focused on domestic and regional flights.
The Caspian crash was the fourth Tu-154 accident in Iran since 2002 after Iran Air Tours (2002 near Sarab-e Dorah), Kish Air (2002 in Mashad) and again Iran Air Tours (2006 in Mashad). Of the more than 920 Tu-154s built, 61 have been involved in accidents, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
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