Iran passenger plane crashes near Samirom, kills 66

TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – An Aseman Airlines flight with 60 passengers and six crew on board crashed in a mountainous area near the town of Samirom, Isfahan province, on Sunday morning. The 20-year-old ATR plane carrying dozens of passengers from Tehran to Yasuj, in southwestern Iran and the capital of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, after disappearing from flight radar on Sunday morning, went down in Samirom, Isfahan province. Several helicopters have been deployed to search the crash site near Padena mountain, and search and rescue operation is underway. There is no immediate details over the casualties. A spokesman for the Iranian emergency organization said it was not possible to send ambulances to the mountainous area, but choppers are being deployed. Witnesses informed local media that it appeared the plane was trying to make an emergency landing on a pasture when it crashed. The director of public relations at Aseman Airlines Tabatabaei announced an ATR 72 flight disappeared from radar about 8:52, and after a search in the area, the plane was fould crashed into Mount Dena 14 miles from Yasuj in bad weather and that the site of the crash was hard to reach. All passengers and crew, including one child, are reportedly killed.