Reports from Iran indicate that as many as 120 occupants of the Tupolev Tu-154M that crashed at Mashad today may have survived the accident.
Iranian news agency IRNA, citing a senior official from the Red Crescent medical assistance organisation, gives the total number on board as 148 but puts the death toll at just 28.
It claims that another 43 were injured but that the remaining 77 escaped unhurt. Earlier reports suggested that up to 80 had died in the crash.
Iran Air holiday division Iran Air Tours had been operating the Tu-154 on a service from Bandar Abbas. Unconfirmed reports claim that the aircraft suffered a burst tyre during landing, swerved off the runway and struck obstacles before catching fire.
Images from the scene of the Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft which crashed at Mashad in Iran identify the tri-jet as bearing the registration EP-MCF, part of the Iran Air Tours fleet.
Flight’s ACAS fleet database lists the jet as being an 18-year old example.
Television pictures from Iran (left) show the aircraft has been badly damaged by fire in its mid-fuselage, with the empennage almost separated, amid suggestions from state-run media that it veered off the runway after arriving from Bandar Abbas.
Iran Air Tours lost another Tu-154 four years ago after the jet came down in a mountainous area near Khorramabad, killing everyone on board. The aircraft had been on a flight from Tehran in February 2002.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
