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Iran continues search for missing plane

February 19, 2018 at 9:09 am

Relatives of passengers on board the crashed passenger plane mourn at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran on 18 February 2018. [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]

Iranian rescue teams were today still trying to locate the wreckage of a plane a day after it crashed with 65 people on board, as glacial temperatures and mountainous terrain hampered their search, Reuters reported.

The Aseman Airlines flight from Tehran disappeared from radar screens yesterday 50 minutes into its journey to the southwestern city of Yasuj. It is believed to have gone down in a mountainous area near the town of Semirom.

Helicopters and mountain rescue personnel from the armed forces and the Red Crescent, as well as local volunteers, were involved in the search, although no one was expected to have survived the crash, state television reported

“Five units started the search operation in early hours of the morning, in -16 degrees [Celsius],” a local Red Crescent official was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency. Military reconnaissance drones were also searching the area.

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“We are facing a total enigma. We do not know anything about the crash,” Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency shortly after his arrival in Semirom.

Iran has asked European countries and China to help the search operation with their satellite imagery, the deputy head of the Iranian Space Agency, Mojtaba Saradeghi, was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

The twin-engined turboprop ATR 72 was just over 24 years old. According to data cited by the Flight Safety Foundation’s aviation-safety.net website, it had been restored to service just three months ago after being in storage for six years.

Planemaker ATR said the cause of the accident was not yet known. Based in the French city of Toulouse, ATR is a joint venture between Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo.