IRANIAN AIRCRAFT CATCHES FIRE ON LANDING

RTT News
1/25/2010 12:34 AM ET

(RTTNews) – More than 42 Iranian pilgrims were hurt when a plane of
Taban Air caught fire while landing at Mashhad, in the north-east of
the country, as the condition of a passenger deteriorated.

The plane, a Russian-built Tupolev 154 and owned by Taban Air,
was severely damaged as it landed in foggy conditions, losing its
undercarriage and a wing after its tail hit the ground and the skidded
off the runway. A part of the runway was damaged because of the fire.

Gholamreza Massoumi, head of Iran’s emergency medical services,
said about 42 passengers, out of the 157 aboard, were injured, but
no fatalities were reported.

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said that "weather conditions
and visibility problems were most likely behind the incident."

A spokesman for Iranian civil aviation said the plane, after taking
off Saturday from Abadan, in southwest Iran, was forced to land in the
central city of Isfahan for the night due to bad weather conditions.

After taking off the next day (Sunday), the captain was forced to
make an emergency landing in Mashhad after a passenger’s health
deteriorated, he said.

There were several crashes in Iran in the past few decades, many of
them involving Russian-made aircraft due to their age and lack of
proper maintenance.

In the worst aircraft crash in Iran in six years, a Tupolev crashed
last July on its way to Armenia, after catching fire mid-air. It
crashed into farmland, killing all the 168 passengers and crew
on board.

Ten days later, a passenger plane burst into flames while landing in
Mashhad, killing 17 passengers.

by RTT Staff Writer

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