Passenger plane crashes in Iran, 39 dead, 9 injured: reports

A civilian airliner crashed moments after it took off from Tehran on Sunday, killing 39 people and injuring nine on board and narrowly avoiding more fatalities on the ground.

The plane was headed to the eastern city of Tabas, the IRNA and Fars news agencies said, and crashed at 9.18 am (0448 GMT).

The official IRINN television channel said the plane crashed in the Azadi neighbourhood, west of the airport, but did not state if fatalities were confined to passengers or if people were also killed on the ground.

"All the passengers are dead," a fire service spokesman said on IRNA. A second unnamed official said 48 people were on board the turboprop Antonov An-140 aircraft when it crashed.

There were conflicting accounts of the airline that the plane belonged to, with one report saying it was a Taban Airlines aircraft while another said it was owned by Sepahan Airlines.

Mehrabad is near central Tehran and is Iran's main domestic hub and by far the busiest of the country's airports, serving routes to all Iranian cities.

Most international flights take off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, which is located further west of the Iranian capital.

Alireza Jahangirian, the head of Iran's civil aviation authority, said: "The plane crashed in trees. There were no casualties on the ground."

The Antonov An-140 is a small aircraft designed for regional use and with a range of around 2,400 kilometres (1,500 miles) and it can carry up to 52 people. Iranian airlines are one of the plane's biggest users.

Iran has suffered several air crashes in recent years, blamed on ageing planes, poor maintenance and a shortage of new parts because of international sanctions.

Airlines, including those run by the state, are short of finance and have seen business suffer because of banking restrictions imposed on the Islamic republic by the United States and Europe.

Iran's last major air crash was in January 2011, when an Iran Air Boeing 727 shattered on impact while attempting an emergency landing in a snowstorm in the country's northwest, killing 77 people.

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