Fewer than 30 bodies recovered from Iran plane crash

Search teams have recovered fewer than 30 bodies from the wreckage of an Iranian airliner which crashed killing all 118 people on board.

Heavy wind and dense fog have hampered the recovery in the Sefid Kouh mountain.

It has also prevented helicopters from carrying down metal boxes, each containing five or six bodies.

Hamzah Imani, a climbing expert involved in the operation, said bodies, body parts and pieces of the plane are scattered across several miles.

"We are collecting the bodies, some of which have been covered in snow, in sub-zero temperatures on the mountain," Mr Imani said.

"It is a depressing operation. There is so much blood on the rocks and all the bodies have been mutilated" by the force of the crash and the rough terrain, Mr Imani added.

Only four bodies have been identified so far. Since Thursday, 16 bodies have been carried by helicopters from the mountain to the nearby Lorestan army base. Another 10-12 bodies waited to be transported from the crash site.

Outside the army base, more than 100 distraught and angry relatives of the victims gathered to wait for the remains of loved ones.

State-run Iran Air Tours, which operated the plane, said the company was taking all its 12 Tupolev aircraft out of service, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The crash, the latest in a string of air disasters over the past four years involving Russian-built airliners, has caused an uproar in Tehran. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has ordered an emergency committee to investigate the crash.