77 killed, 33 injured in Iran plane crash

URMIA, Jan. 10 (MNA) --77 passengers were killed and 33 were injured in the Iran Air Boeing 727 crash on Sunday night near the city of Urmia in northwestern Iran, announced West Azarbaijan Governor Vahid Jalalzadeh on Monday.

The plane had departed from Tehran with a delay of about two hours and was bound for Urmia. It was about to land at Urmia airport but did not succeed due to snowy weather. Then the plane disappeared off the flight controllers’ radar screens. The crash occurred at 7:45 p.m. local time.

Fortunately, the airliner did not explode after the crash, and a number of survivors managed to jump out of the plane and save their lives. Later the rescue workers pulled the dead bodies and the injured people from the wreck.

Jalalzadeh also told that the captain in his last contact with the air traffic control tower had said that his visibility was down due to adverse weather conditions.

It seems that bad weather condition and poor visibility have been the main causes of the accident, he said.

He added that the provincial authorities have decided to declare three days of mourning in West Azarbaijan.