Iran plane fire 'kills 80'

Iranian state TV says 80 people have been killed after a plane caught fire as it was landing today in Mashhad, north-eastern Iran.

The fire began after a tyre blew out as the aircraft was landing, the television station reported.

The civilian flight, by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated to Iran’s national air carrier, departed from Bandar Abbas, in the south of the country.

The Russian-made TU-154 was carrying 147 passengers. None of the crew members died in the fire, and other passengers were evacuated, state-TV reported.

Mashhad, located 620 miles north-east of Tehran, is visited by some 12 million people annually on pilgrimage to its Shiite Islamic shrines.

State television did not say whether the fire had been extinguished, only that it was under control and that investigators were at the scene.