Feb. 18 (UPI) — All 66 people aboard an Aseman Airlines flight in Iran are presumed dead after the passenger plane crashed in a mountainous area Sunday.
The ATR72 aircraft crashed in the Dena Mountains and disappeared from radar 50 minutes after embarking on a flight from Tehran to the southwestern city of Yasuj, the airline said on its Instagram account.
“Unfortunately, all the passengers and crew of this flight were killed,” a representative for the airline said. “The aircraft carries 60 passengers, 2 hostesses, 2 flight safety personnel, and two pilots.”
The flight departed at 11:25 p.m. EDT Saturday and crashed in Kohangan village 74 miles from Semirom town.
Twenty rescue teams were dispatched to the crash site and one helicopter was forced to turn back due to poor weather conditions.
Aseman Airlines’ public relations chief, Mohammad Tabatabaie, said it won’t be possible to confirm all of the deaths until the wreckage is recovered.
“Given the special circumstances of the region, we still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers of this plane,” he said.
Multiple flights out of Tehran were disrupted or canceled Sunday due to bad weather stemming from pollution-related fog.
