MAJOR AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN IRAN SINCE JULY 15

Xinhua

2009-08-16 16:51:12

TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — An Iranian military training helicopter
crashed near Tehran on Sunday, killing three people on board, state
television reported.

The helicopter, belonging to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps,
crashed in Shahriar County, 45 kilometers west of Tehran, the report
said. This is the third air crash within the past week.

Iran, which maintained a poor air safety record over the past decade,
has seen a series of aviation disasters over the past one month.

On Saturday morning, two people on board were killed when a flight
training plane crashed in northern Iran.

The plane crashed in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, after taking
off from Payam airport at 7:00 a.m. (0230 GMT). The cause of the
accident is still under investigation.

On August 10, three people were killed and three others injuredin a
Bell 205 police helicopter crash in southern Iran. The helicopter was
returning from an operation when it crashed in a mountainous region
near the city of Kerman.

A technical problem is supposed to be the cause of the crash, according
to an official in the Governor General office of Kerman Province.

On August 3, a Boeing 707 passenger plane belonging to Iran’s army
airlines Saha made an emergency landing at Ahvaz airport.

The emergency landing happened ten minutes after its taking offdue to
technical failure, according to Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization. All
the 176 passengers on board were safe.

On July 24, a Russian-made Ilyushin Il-62 plane belonging to Iran’s
Aria Airlines, which was traveling from Tehran to northeastern city
of Mashhad with 153 passengers on board, caught fire and skidded into
walls near the runway during its landing in Mashhad.

In this incident, 16 people, including 13 crew members, were killed
and around 30 others on board were injured.

On July 15, a Russian-made Topolov passenger plane belonging toIran’s
Caspian Airlines crashed near northwestern city of Qazvin on its way
to Armenia, killing all 168 people on board. It was theworst plane
crash in Iran in six years.

The plane caught fire in midair and ploughed into a farmland 11minutes
after its take-off. Officials have attributed the incidentto technical
problems of the plane.