6 PEOPLE ONBOARD THE CRASHED AIRCRAFT IN IRAN WERE CITIZENS OF ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-07-15 16:39:00

ArmInfo. 6 people onboard Caspian Airlines aircraft crashed in Iran
on July 15 were citizens of Armenia, 4 of them passengers, and 2 crew
members. 29 more people had Armenian surnames but were not citizens
of Armenia, Deputy Head of Civil Aviation Department of Armenia Arsen
Poghosyan told journalists in Yerevan, Wednesday.

According to him, there were a total of 153 passengers and 15 crew
members onboard Tu-154M. All of them died. The Armenian citizens were
Ashot Nersisyan, Artur Grigoryan, Karine Margaryan, Aram Siloyan,
and engine operators Grigor Barseghyan and Souren Soghomonyan. Arsen
Poghosyan said that Tu-154 was to enter the air space of Armenia at
12:52 pm local time.

However, at 12:48 pm the flight operations officers reported that the
plane was unseen on the radars. The plane was to carry 43 people by
flyback, the Iranian party will assume the departure of 21 of them. He
added that the flight recorder data are not available yet. At the
moment, Head of the Civil Aviation General Department of Armenia Artyom
Movsisyan is negotiating with the Iranian party on possible insurance
of the victims’ families. The air crash is being investigated by the
Iranian party. The complete list of the victims will be published at
the official website of Civil Aviation General Department in an hour.

The Caspian Airlines air company was established in 1993 as an
enterprise meeting Iranian and Russian interests. The first flights
of Caspian Airlines planes took place in September 1993. The base
airport for Caspian Airlines is the Imam Khomeini Tehran International
Airport. The Caspian Airlines planes carry out 50 cargo and passenger
flights throughout the world weekly.

The company is specializing in both both domestic flights in Iran and
regional and international air carriages. Its routes cover Abadan,
Ahvaz, Mahshahr, Mashad, Tabriz, Tehran, Budapest, Dubai, Damascus,
Kiev, Minsk, Yerevan. As of June 3, 2008, the air fleet of the company
consisted of the following a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, 4 Tu-154M.