Iran Plane Crashes in Orumiyeh

An IranAir plane with more than a hundred people on board has crashed in Orumiyeh, 19:45 local time. When latest reports came in, there were 71 dead and 35 survivors. This was a Boeing-727 operated by the national airline of Iran. Iran plane crashes are frequent and experts put the main reason as being old aircraft and poor maintenance.

The pilots of this IranAir plane had reported a technical failure and the place vanished from the radar. There was also a bad snowstorm and heavy fog in the area. The pilots then attempted an emergency landing in Orumiyeh, which is around 450 miles from Iran's capital Tehran. The plane broke into many pieces when it went down in a farm. 106 people were on board, 71 perished and there were 35 survivors. Ironically, with so many dead, there were quite a few passengers with very minor injuries, who could actually just walk away from the wreckage, since the plane did not burst into flames. Rescue workers and locals were seen frantically searching for and trying to help the survivors. Iran's IRNA state news agency said in a statement, "According to our initial reports, the plane has crashed near the village of Termani in the southern coast of Orumieh lake. According to the reports we have received, the plane was trying to land in Orumieh airport, but because of the bad weather conditions it did not succeed and went away from the airport for a second try, but it suddenly disappeared from the radars."

Rescue work of this Iran plane crash was being severely hampered with nearly 2 feet deep snow in most places around the crash site.