Military Plane Crash in Tehran Kills 115

A military transport airplane crowded with Iranian journalists crashed into a 10-story apartment building Tuesday, leaving at least 115 people dead and dozens injured.

The Iranian military C-130 airplane was headed for an emergency landing when it smashed into the top of the high-rise, burst into flames and plummeted to the ground.

All 84 passengers and 10 crew members died; some residents of the apartments were also killed.

The flight had taken off from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport in the afternoon and was ferrying journalists to Bandar Abbas in southern Iran to witness naval exercises in the Persian Gulf.

Minutes after takeoff, the plane’s pilot contacted air controllers about technical difficulties, an official with Iran’s civil aviation authority said. But before the plane could return to the airport, it crashed into the nearby residential complex belonging to the air force.

One witness said the plane wobbled before apparently aiming for the space between two buildings.

“It was a terrible, terrible day for reporters,” said Zohreh Soleimani, an Iranian photographer who had asked to be part of the media corps for the naval exercises but was turned down. “We all knew each other, we were all friends.”

Witness Iraj Moradin told Associated Press that the plane appeared to be circling the airport when its tail burst into flames, leaving a trail of smoke as it fell. He said he fled when he thought the plane was going to crash into a gas station, but turned in time to see it hit the building.

Many of the dead were burned beyond recognition. By nightfall, 50 bodies had been handed over to authorities for identification.

Passerby Hassan Hedayati, his face covered with dust and hands caked with dried blood, was among the first on the scene. “I pulled 30 bodies out of the plane,” he told Reuters. “They were all charred.”

Iran’s civilian and military air fleet has a notoriously poor safety record. In the last four years, 545 have died in Iranian plane crashes.

Iranian officials blame the high toll on sanctions, which prevent the Islamic Republic from buying spare airliner parts from the West. The Iranian air force is believed to have about 15 aging U.S.-made C-130s in operation that date to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian radio announced that more than 75 people were injured in Tuesday’s crash, most of whom were treated by emergency units at the site. Others were taken to area hospitals.

Telephone hotlines were set up to help families seeking to locate relatives.

The crash site was cordoned off, with police officers and military officials preventing thousands of onlookers, residents and journalists from entering the housing complex. Some journalists, especially cameramen, reported that they were beaten by police and that their tapes were confiscated.

One navy official on the scene said that the area was a security zone because the complex is home to several high-ranking air force officials.

Iranian state television stations ran footage of colleagues who died in the crash. News Channel 6 lost 15 of its employees, most of them men in their late 20s. The semiofficial Fars news agency ran a banner profiling two of its reporters and mourned their deaths.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent his condolences from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where he arrived Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

“Rescue teams are required to employ their maximum capability to save and help the survivors,” state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

In April, three people were killed when a Boeing 707 careened off a runway at Tehran’s airport. And in February 2003, 302 people died when a Russian-made plane carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards crashed into the mountains of southeastern Iran.