Iran airliner crashes, all 168 on board feared dead

I / Tehran July 15, 2009, 15:40 IST

An Iranian airliner crashed into farmland in the northwest of the country today, and all 168 people on board are believed to be dead, officials and local media reported.

The Caspian Airlines plane crashed near the city of Qazvin, northwest of the capital, shortly after takeoff from Tehran's international Imam Khomeini airport, local media said.

Civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said 153 passengers and 15 crew members were on board the airliner, which was flying to the Armenian capital Yerevan.

"The plane took off from the Imam Khomeini airport and 16 minutes later it disappeared off the radar and then it crashed," he said, giving the takeoff time at 1133 am (0703 GMT).

"We can not confirm anything more before we receive additional information from the team that we dispatched at the crash site."

State television's website said all aboard were "most probably were dead."

"The passenger plane was completed destroyed and the wreckage was scattered everywhere," IRNA quoted Qazvin police chief Masoud Jafari Nasab as saying.