TEHRAN — A passenger plane crashed in Tehran on Sunday, killing all 48 people on board, official news agencies in Iran reported.
The Antonov-140 propeller plane went down shortly after leaving the runway at Mehrabad International Airport after an engine failed, the FARS semiofficial news agency reported.
Though the Islamic Republic News Agency and Tehran Times reported that all crew and passengers were killed, Press TV said 37 people died in the crash, two more died at a Tehran hospital and nine others were in critical condition with serious burns.
“Both black boxes of Iran-140 airplane of Hesa Co. (Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company) were found in search operations,” Ahmad Majidi, Iran’s deputy minister of roads and urban development, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency, according to Press TV.
The crash also injured people on the ground, including employees at a glass factory, FARS said.
Some of the injured suffered severe burns, Tasnimnews reported.
A witness told FARS that the tail of the plane fell from the sky first, and the front of the plane crashed farther away.
Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 was carrying 40 passengers and a crew of eight when it went down, according to official news reports.
Rescue workers were still working Sunday afternoon to remove bodies from the wreckage, Tasnimnews said.
