Minister and MPs die in Iranian jet crash

A jet carrying Iran's transport minister and MPs has crashed in bad weather, killing all on board.

The Russian-built Yak-40 , with 29 passengers and crew, including transport minister Rahman Dadman and six MPs, was on its way to the official opening of a new airport.

More than seven hours later an interior ministry official said the wreckage of the plane had been found in a mountainous area between Gorgan and Shahroud in the north of Iran.

He said there were no survivors.

Mr Dadman and his delegation were on their way to Gorgan to inaugurate the city's airport, the local governor said.

Provincial officials "were waiting at the Gorgan airport to greet them on their arrival when we lost contact with the plane", governor Ali Asghar Ahmadi said.

He said the airport control tower at Sari, 155 miles north-east of Tehran, lost contact with the pilot after a final communication at 0408 BST.

"The pilot said that because of bad weather, they were heading back to Tehran," Mr Ahmadi said. It was raining heavily at the time, Iranian meteorologists said.

Authorities searched for the plane using helicopters, aircraft and boats, as Sari and Gorgan lie near the Caspian Sea.