FLESH, BONES AND HORROR AT IRAN PLANE CRASH SITE
by Hiedeh Farmani

Agence France Presse
July 15, 2009 Wednesday 4:07 PM GMT

Relief workers scoured farmlands Wednesday seeking human remains amid
the debris of the crashed Iranian airliner while shocked relatives
looked on, hoping that at least the remains of their loved ones might
be found.

But the news the rescuers brought back was bleak.

"There is not a single piece which can be identified. There is not
a single finger of anybody left," said one relief worker, standing
next to a body bag filled with human flesh.

The Caspian Airline Soviet-era designed Tupolev Tu-154 plane caught
fire mid-air and crashed Wednesday morning into farmlands in the
village of Janat Abad in Iran’s northwestern province of Qazvin,
just minutes after it took off from Tehran for the Armenian capital
of Yerevan.

All 168 people, including 153 passengers and 15 crew members, on
board were killed in the worst plane crash in Iran in years.

The impact of the crash caused a vast crater which was littered with
debris, shoes and clothing.

"When I arrived at the site, I was literally walking on bits and
pieces of flesh," Fatemeh, a 15-year-old girl told AFP.

Grey-haired Arlen Stepanian was crying as he waited for relief workers
to find something to help identify his two dead daughters who were
aboard the plane.

One daughter, Shogher, had told him minutes before take off that the
plane was facing a problem.

"They were going with their friends on holiday. I had not seen them
for a week. Shogher talked to me from the plane and said the flight
was delayed as there seemed to be a problem with the plane," Stepanian
told AFP.

He said he received her call at 10:52 am (0622 GMT). The plane took
off from Tehran’s international Imam Khomeini airport at 11:33 am
and crashed 16 minutes later.

"Their mother is at home. She is in a total shock," he said, waiting
near the massive crater from which smoke was still rising hours after
the disaster.

Dozens of policemen and relief workers were preventing relatives from
getting right up to the crater, but the scene even from a distance
was one of horror and devastation.

Many relatives poured out their anger at Caspian Airlines, saying
its planes could not be trusted.

"I hate these planes. With so much travel between Iran and Armenia,
there have to be better planes," said Alex, 24, an Iranian of Armenian
origin who lost around dozen friends and relatives in the crash,
including children.

Another man who was mourning the death of his sister-in-law too
claimed the airline used faulty planes.

"I travel a lot to Armenia, but I never fly on a plane. I don’t trust
them," said the man, whose sister-in-law perished while on her way
to meet her daughter studying in an Armenian university.

"Have you every flown in a Caspian plane? Its seats are all rickety."

As he spoke, several local villagers were seen carrying away broken
parts of the plane, while some took pictures of each other holding
the debris.

"I was driving my tractor when I saw a big fire in the sky," said
18-year-old farmer Ahmad.

"There were burnt parts scattered across the ground and I followed them
and arrived at the crater. You could not believe your eyes. Nothing
was left, but just a big hole with fire coming out of it."