Russian-made plane crashes, killing 29

Sat., Sept. 2, 2006

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

TEHRAN, Iran – A landing Iranian passenger plane skidded off the runway and raked its wing along the ground, sparking a fire that killed 29 of the 148 people on board Friday in the latest deadly crash of a Russian-made aircraft.

Rescue workers in the northeastern city of Mashhad carried survivors on stretchers out of the gutted craft, which lay in a pool of water near the runway with its middle charred and its roof collapsed. Iranian television footage showed firefighters spraying the engines with water.

State television reported that a tire exploded as the plane landed, but the spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Reza Jafarzadeh, said investigators had not confirmed that, and it was still not clear what caused the plane to slide off the runway.

The flight by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran’s national air carrier – was arriving from Bandar Abbas on Iran’s southern coast when the accident occurred.

The craft was a Russian-made Tupolev 154. A Tu-154 owned by Russia’s Pulkovo Airlines crashed in Ukraine on Aug. 22 en route from a Russian resort to St. Petersburg, killing all 170 people on board.

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Russian-made plane crashes, killing 29

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

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