TEHRAN (ecoideal)- Head of the public relations department of Aseman Airline Mohammad Taqi Tabatabayee said his company cannot yet confirm the death of all passengers and crew members on board the ATR-72 plane which crashed in Central Iran on Sunday morning.
"Given the hard (geographical) situation of the region, we have not been yet able to access the crash site and therefore, the death of all passengers of the plane cannot be confirmed precisely and firmly yet," Tabatabayee said.
Authorities lost track of a passenger plane with 66 people on board on Sunday as it traveled from the capital to Yasouj, authorities said, suggesting that the aircraft has crashed in Central Iran.
The ATR plane belonging to Aseman airline company was en route from Mehrabad international airport in Tehran to Yasouj, the center of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad province in Western Iran, at 7:55 local time on Sunday morning and it disappeared from the radar of air traffic controllers 50 minutes later, Tabatabayee earlier told ecoideal.
Also, Head of Iran's Emergency Medical Services Pir-Hossein Kolivand told ecoideal that the plane has crashed in a region near Semirom in the Central province of Isfahan.
Meantime, the deputy head of Iran's Red Crescent Society for relief and rescue operations said that 120 rescue workers have been sent to the region in 30 teams.
Also, the Red Crescent Society's authorities announced that a number of drones have been sent to the crash site given the fact that the region is impassable and rescue operations are difficult.
Meantime, Head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) Ali Abedzadeh said that the ATR plane was built in 1993, adding that the cause of the crash will be revealed only after plane's black box is found and its data is extracted.
Representative of Semirom people in the Iranian parliament Asqar Salimi said that the local people in the region have heard a loud blast that seems to be the result of the explosion caused when the plane hit Mount Dena.
Reports also said that the skilled veteran pilot of the crashed ATR plane had earlier prevented a similar incident in one of his flights.
Meantime, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi to form a headquarters to clear the cause of the incident. He also extended his condolences to the bereaved families of those killed in the crash.
In a similar message on Sunday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei also condoled the families of the victims as well as the Iranian nation.
Four university professors have been on board the plane, including much acclaimed Dr. Abdol-Reza Kordi.
Source: Farsnews