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| Many killed in Tehran plane crash | ||||||
| 2005-12-06 | ||||||
An Iranian military plane with 94 people on board has crashed into a building in a heavily built-up suburb of the capital Tehran. There was a huge explosion and fire in the 10-storey block. Police said everyone had died on the plane and many deaths were feared on the ground.
BBC Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the city is currently covered in a blanket of smog because air pollution is especially high, but it is not known if this played a role in the crash.
BBCPersian.com reader Amir, who reached the scene shortly after the crash, said the building was engulfed in smoke and dust and a huge fire swept through the block before the fire brigade arrived. "The scene of crash was very bad. Very soon we saw bodies carried away," he said. The plane was due to fly from Tehran to Bandar Abbas in the south-west of Iran. Passengers are said to have included a group of journalists sent to cover military exercises there.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #19 Seafarious, You do know that no Jews died in the plane crash, don't you? Could it have been a Mossad plot? Could it be that Israel had warned the 4000 Jews to stay away that day? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-12-06 22:08 |
| #18 Bah, F5's. Antique junk, but sexy antique junk. Nice 2-engine design, lots of power. Stubby wings, though. I flew the T-38 2-seat trainer version about 20 years ago. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-12-06 17:52 |
| #17 A C-130 will easily fly on two engines and will land with one. Can't see all four engines going out unless they never inspected the fuel tanks and lines for contaminant buildup. Did someone fill up a fuel tank with water instead of jet fuel? |
| Posted by: ed 2005-12-06 17:32 |
| #16 A plane loaded with Iranian journalists slammed into a 10-story apartment building Tuesday as the pilot attempted an emergency landing after developing engine trouble. At least 128 people were killed _ 34 on the ground. Witnesses said the C-130 plummeted to earth after ripping open the top of the building and igniting a large fire. Cars were smashed and debris was scattered over a wide area. Panicked residents fled the Towhid residential complex, a series of high-rise apartment buildings for air force personnel in the Azadi suburb of Tehran. Officials said everyone on the plane, 84 passengers and a crew of 10, was killed. Most were Iranian radio and television journalists heading to cover military maneuvers in southern Iran. In addition to the 34 residents of the apartment building who died, 90 were injured, Tehran state radio said. The plane, which belonged to the army air force, had just taken off for Bandar Abbas in southern Iran when it developed engine trouble. As it headed back to Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, the pilot was unable to maintain sufficient altitude and hit the apartment complex, state-run television said. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-12-06 16:11 |
| #15 That's an Antonov 140, which the Iranians assemble from kit. A more interesting example is the Azarakhsh, a reverse engineered, scaled up 1950's US F-5 Tiger. Were they able to reverse engineer the engines or did they buy from the Russians? Frome Janes: The journal says the aircraft is a light fighter and ground attack plane with avionics and radar of Iranian design, and "certain critical components" of Russian origin. Jane's Defence Weekly says its sources describe the Azarakhsh as "a highly capable aircraft despite its conventional design". |
| Posted by: ed 2005-12-06 13:26 |
| #14 mojo, Iran does produce it's own aircraft : http://www.iranmania.com/news/currentaffairs/images/330iran1402.jpg |
| Posted by: lyot 2005-12-06 13:01 |
| #13 An Iranian military plane with 94 people on board has crashed into a building in a heavily built-up suburb of the capital Tehran. That percussive sound in the background is my irony meter detonating. Officials blame the high frequency of crashes on a lack of aviation spare parts due to American sanctions. As usual, that elusive mystical scientific enigma known as Cause & Effect persists in confounding even the most sagacious of Persian journalists. Iran's lack of aviation parts is not due to any sanctions. It's because they flout even the most basic forms of diplomatic protocol, like International Soil. Doing just that excludes them from the global community. Because they choose to cripple their own participation in the free market of aviation parts is no fault of ours. I can only wonder what our horrific reward would have been had we ignored the 1979 hostage crisis and continued to sell Iran military hardware. Iran's mullahs will continue to drink their countrymen's blood until aenemia kills them all. My heart pumps p!ss. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-12-06 12:26 |
| #12 Gee, I guess they should fly their OWN planes, which they probably have LOTS of spare parts for... What? Iran DOESN'T PRODUCE any aircraft? How shocking. I blame Bush. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-12-06 11:38 |
| #11 Oh, I forgot to issue the accompanying Fatwa...I declare Iran "Nuke Free". |
| Posted by: Intrinsicpilot 2005-12-06 10:43 |
| #10 Usually when something bad happens to us it is a sign from Allan. Perhaps Allan is mad a Tehran about the prospect of nukes. |
| Posted by: Intrinsicpilot 2005-12-06 10:35 |
| #9 in wish we had about 5 more of these a week out of tehran myself |
| Posted by: Jerelet Thineling2988 2005-12-06 10:13 |
| #8 At least 120 people die in an Iranian military C130 transport plane crash into a 10-storey residential building in a Tehran suburb. All 94 passengers and crew are dead plus a rising number of victims on the ground. Tehran state radio reports a technical hitch caused the disaster. The plane was heading for Bandar Abbas when it tried to make an emergency landing at Maharabad international airport. DEBKAfile reports Iran's navy and Revolutionary Guards have headquarters at Bandar Abbas. The passengers aboard the C130 were very likely officers of either corps. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-12-06 09:48 |
| #7 THey have more accidents because of poor maintanance. Why fix it when everything is determined by the will of Alan, peace be onto him. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-12-06 09:46 |
| #6 Iran just signed a multi-bilion dollar deal with russia. Why the hell are they still flying C-130s? Good riddance to bad islamists! |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-12-06 09:45 |
| #5 hopefully the entire nuke science staff was on board |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-12-06 09:16 |
| #4 Steve, you better not be trying to blame your busted meter on US sanctions... /surely the Zionists have a hand in this somehow |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-12-06 09:15 |
| #3 "We are used to aeroplanes but I thought: 'Oh my God, this one is going to crash'. Then it struck the building with a big bang and smoke came pouring out." Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Did you check to see if any Saudis were on board? |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2005-12-06 09:13 |
| #2 Amazing how they manage to pin the blame on the U.S. I suppose they blame us for the lack of progress in the Nuke talks too. After all we should give Iran a steady supply of nukes to bomb us with. (At least according to the BBS'es way of thinking) Asshat Journalists. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-12-06 09:08 |
| #1 That is why I prefer russian transports over westen ones: when they crash they kill more scum (276 against 94) and less innocents. |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-12-06 09:01 |