25 Jul 2009

Another fatal air crash in Iran

6:13 am on 25 July 2009

At least 17 people were killed when a passenger plane caught fire while landing at an airport in north east Iran.

The state news agency reports that 23 people were injured when the plane caught fire on Friday at an airport in Mashhad, a pilgrimage centre. The remaining passengers were evacuated.

Deputy governor of Khorasan province Ghahreman Rashid identified the plane as a Russian-designed Ilyushin.

It was the second fatal crash in iran this month: a Tupolev passenger aircraft flying to Armenia crashed near the city of Qazvin, northwest of Tehran, on 15 July, killing all 168 people aboard.