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Black boxes found after Iran plane crash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-16 15:34

Black boxes found after Iran plane crash

Emergency workers shift through the wreckage of a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger plane which crashed near the city of Qazvin, about 150 km (93 miles) north of Tehran, July 15, 2009. [Agencies] Photo: 168 killed in Iran plane crash

Many relatives vented their anger at Caspian Airlines, saying its planes could not be trusted.

"I hate these planes. With so much travel between Iran and Armenia, there have to be better planes," said Alex, 24, an Iranian of Armenian origin who lost around dozen friends and relatives in the crash, including children.

The Tupolev Tu-154 is a Soviet-designed medium-range three-engine aircraft and was a best-seller for the Russian aircraft industry between 1972 and 1994.

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Iran's civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said the plane had taken off from Imam Khomeini international airport at 11:33 am (0703 GMT) but 16 minutes later "it disappeared off the radar and then it crashed."

State television's website quoted Ahmad Momeni, managing director of Iran's airport authority, as saying that the last conversation between the pilot and the ground was "normal and did not indicate any technical glitch."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered a transport ministry probe into the disaster, the third major plane crash in the world in six weeks.

Two weeks ago a Yemenia Airbus crashed in the Indian Ocean off the Comoros, killing 152 people, while on June 1 an Air France Airbus plunged into the Atlantic coast off Brazil killing 228.

Iran, which has been under years of international sanctions hampering its ability to buy Boeing or Airbus planes, has suffered a number of aviation disasters over the past decade.

In December 2005, 108 people were killed when a Lockheed transport plane crashed into a foot of a high-rise housing block outside Tehran.

In November 2006, a military plane crashed on takeoff in Tehran, killing all 39 people on board.

Iran's civil and military fleet is made up of ancient aircraft in very poor condition due to their age and lack of maintenance.

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