Iran plane-crash toll now 119
2005-12-06 16:33
Tehran - An Iranian military transport plane crash into a 10-storey block of flats has killed at least 119 people.
The aircraft smashed a hole in the top of the building, setting it ablaze, as it tried to make an emergency landing.
All 94 people on the plane were killed. Most of the passengers were Iranian journalists, heading to cover military manoeuvres in the south. Twenty-five people in the block of flats also died, and 15 were injured.
A large gash was torn in the top floor of the 10-storey building.
Flames leapt out of windows, from the roof and several other floors as panicked residents fled the Towhid residential complex, a series of high-rise block for army personnel in the Azadi suburb of Tehran.
Many in the crowd were screaming
Police said wreckage rained down, hitting a nearby petrol station. Cars parked below were smashed by falling debris.
At the foot of the blackened building, what seemed to be a pile of wreckage, was in flames.
Fire-fighters managed to put out the fire in the building. The building was damaged and charred, but still standing.
Police cordoned off the area, preventing journalists and a huge crowd from getting close to the accident site.
Many in the crowd were screaming, afraid their relatives had been killed.
"It was like an earthquake," said Reza Sadeqi, a 25-year-old merchant, who saw the plane hit the building.
"The force of the crash threw me about three metres inside my shop."
"I felt the heat of the fire caused by the crash. It was like being in hell," he said.
The C-130 aircraft had just taken off from the nearby Mehrabad airport en route to Bandar Abbas, a port city in southern Iran.
Plane experienced a technical problem
Iranian state-run television said the plane had experienced a technical problem and was returning to Mehrabad for an emergency landing when it hit the building.
The plane carried 84 passengers and 10 crew. Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf confirmed that all the passengers had been killed.
- AP