From IRNA :
Kerman, Feb 20, IRNA -- An Iranian military aircraft, operated by
the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC), crashed near this
central city Wednesday evening, killing all 302 people aboard.
The Ilyushin airliner was on a domestic flight to Kerman from the
southeastern Zahedan in Sistan Baluchestan province near Pakistan
border. It went down as it prepared to land at the Kerman airport.
The crash occurred at 18:24 (1454 GMT) some 35 km to the
southeast of Kerman. Search teams found early Thursday (ed.) part of
the debris, including the plane's wing near a tunnel which cuts
through local mountains.
"All those aboard were the personnel of Division 41 of Sarallah of
the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps," Kerman governor, Mohammad Ali
Karimi, told IRNA here, adding 18 of those aboard were the crew.
He said the pilot had lost contact with air traffic controllers
at the Kerman airport shortly before preparing to land in a bad
weather.
Head of the control tower at the Kerman airport said strong winds
blew at the time of descent, which coincided with the landing of a
Tupolev airplane.
"In his last radio contact, the pilot said 'I am trying to
approach the airport; maybe the weather condition will get better'.
At that moment, the contact was lost," the Kerman governor said.
He said police and relief forces in Kerman had been put on alert
and rescue and search teams had been dispatched to the crash site.
The head of Kerman's Red Crescent Society, Ahmad Dabbagh-Zadeh,
said 60 relief workers of his office had set out for snow-covered
Sirach slopes in search of the bodies.
"Although the Sirach mountains are hard to reach and covered
with snow, the relief workers have decided to find the bodies in the
darkness of the night," he said, adding army helicopters in Kerman are
also ready to start search operations as soon as there is daylight.
The Iranian cabinet, in a statement, offered condolences to the
nation and the bereaved families over the "tragic event in which a
group of IRGC brothers" were killed.
The crash came as Iran prepared to celebrate the Eve of Qadir,
which marks Prophet Mohammad's appointment of first imam of Shi'ite
Muslims, Imam Ali (AS), as his spiritual heir.
Iran's aviation fleet mostly uses American-made Boeings, purchased
before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. US unilateral sanctions against
the Islamic Republic, however, have forced the country to turn to
Russian-made aircraft.
On February 12, 2002, a Tupolev-154 crashed on jagged mountains
when it was on a flight to Khorramabad from Tehran, killing all 119 on
board.
Twelve days later, an Ilyushin-76, on a flight to the central city
of Isfahan from the northeastern city of Mashhad with 230 people on
board, made an emergency landing shortly after take-off when a fire
broke out in the plane.
No one was injured in the incident, but six passengers taken by
panic were rushed to hospital and the fire was extinguished on time by
the airport's fire fighters.
In May, 2002, a Russian-built Yak-40 plane on its way to northern
Iran from Tehran crashed with 30 people on board, including the then
roads and transport minister, Rahman Dadman. No one survived the
disaster.
Son still no exact type of aircraft mentioned.
sad story, condolences to all involved
Normally an U.S. gunship is reqired to kill such a large amount of iranian people in an iranian airplane in iranian airspace. Never forget the 290 innocent civilians killed on July 3rd 1988 by the ´great nation´ playing war games all over the world bringing others their ´way of life´ at any price, especially if the others have to pay it ...