35 dead after Iranian airliner crash UAE

An Iranian airliner crashed as it landed at Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates today, killing at least 35 people.

A Civil Aviation official said it was believed there were some survivors.

Local television reports showed burning, smoking wreckage and rescue helicopters landing near the crashed Kish Air Fokker 50 plane.

A row of bodies covered in red blankets was visible in the footage, and frantic-looking rescue workers in white robes were seen pushing at the plane’s debris, searching for survivors.

The number of people aboard was not clear but reports indicated it was between 40 and 50 including a child.

A Civil Aviation official said 35 people were confirmed dead.

Civil aviation and television reports said the plane was returning to Sharjah from the Iranian island of Kish in the Gulf when it went down.

Mehdi Mehranpour, deputy managing director of Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air, confirmed that the plane belonged to Kish Air, a separate Iranian company.

Speaking in the Iranian capital of Teheran, Mehranpour said the airliner was a Fokker 50, which can carry about 60 people, and that it had crashed in a populated area near Sharjah airport.

In the television footage, flames were visible from the front of the plane.

Iran has a history of air accidents, often blamed on badly maintained planes.

In June, an Iranian military C-130 transport plane crashed outside Teheran, killing all seven people on board. In February, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76 crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all 275 aboard.

In Belarus in September, a Tupolev-154 belonging to Kish Air on a Teheran-Minsk-Copenhagen service went off course while making its landing approach at the Minsk-2 airport, striking trees which caused serious damage to the plane’s wings. None of the 40 people aboard were hurt.

In 1995, an Iranian flight attendant hijacked a Kish Air Boeing 707 to Israel during a flight from Teheran.

The plane was returned to Teheran with 174 passengers and crew.

Last month, a top Iranian aviation official asked the United States to lift sanctions on its airline industry as a humanitarian gesture so the country can buy spare parts for its airplanes.

Teheran has blamed many of its air crashes on US sanctions, saying they have prevented the country from repairing and replacing an ageing fleet that includes many Russian-made Tupolov planes.

Iran has complained of trouble buying European-made planes as well because some Airbus parts are American-made.