Black boxes of aircraft crashed en route from Tehran to Yerevan found (UPDATE) - (PHOTO)

16:38

The third black box of Tu-154 aircraft has been found, Mehr quoted chairman of the Iranian Red Cross Committee Ahmad Isfandiyari as saying. He said the third black box was found 4 kilometers away of the crash site. It was handed over to the Iranian flight security services.  

10:14

Zvartnots airport in Yerevan will organize a free flight for nearly 200 relatives of those who died at a Tu-154 crash.

Armenian specialists will accompany relatives of the dead in an aircraft and Armenian embassy in Tehran will help them to get to the scene of tragedy.

Armenian specialists will not take part in investigation into the crash. Russia, producer of the aircraft, has already sent its specialists to Iran to investigate causes behind the tragedy.

09:36

Damaged black boxes have been recovered from a Caspian Airlines plane that crashed in north Iran with the loss of all 168 people on board, say officials, BBC reported.

Investigators who scoured scattered body parts and metal fragments for the data recorders hope they will salvage a clue as to the cause of the crash.

The wreckage was spread over a large area of farmland in Qazvin province, 120km (75 miles) north-west of Tehran.

The Tupolev plane was flying from the Iranian capital to Yerevan in Armenia.
Witnesses said the 22-year-old Russian-made aircraft, which had 153 passengers and 15 crew, nose-dived from the sky with its tail on fire.

Flight 7908 crashed 16 minutes after take-off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, officials said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad offered his condolences to the bereaved families and ordered a transport ministry investigation into the tragedy.

Farsi Majidi, head of the investigating committee, told Associated Press TV News: "Thank God, we succeeded in finding two of the three flight data recorders or black boxes.

Iran has a notoriously bad air safety record. Because of sanctions imposed by the United States, Iran relies on an increasingly ageing fleet of airliners, and has trouble buying spares.

15 July

17:58

There were 6 Armenian citizens on the board of the Tu-154 aircraft that crashed today in Iran. Ashot Nerkisyan, Artur Grigoryan, Karime Margarya and Ara Siroyan were passengers and Grigor Barsegyan and Suren Sogomyan were crew members, panorama.am reported quoting deputy head of Armenia’s civil aviation administration Arsen Pogosyan as saying at a news conference. He said death toll includes 35 Armenians in total majority of which were Iran citizens. Total of 168 people were on board including two children.

Another civil aviation administration official Serezh Karapetyan said the crash could be caused by a fire on engine.

He said reasons behind the crash have not been identified yet.

He said Iranian authorities are investigating the causes for the crash. Karapetyan said Armenia is not authorized in investigation. Iran and Russia, producer of the aircraft, will be involved with the investigation.

17:33

Former member of the Iranian parliament Levon Davidyan, who represented Iranian diaspora, was on the board of the aircraft, IRNA reported.

Former MPs’ family members are also expected to be with him on the board. Levon was head of the Association of Armenian Communities, ITAR-TASS reported. 

16:41

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims of the crash of the plane heading from Tehran to Yerevan and crashing near the Iranian city of Qazvin, Fars News reported.

The president has commissioned Iran's Ministry of Transport and other responsible parties to investigate and divulge the reasons of the crash as soon as possible.

15:59

Early reports say the aircraft crash killed 20 to 25 Armenian citizens, Caspian Airlines representative Arlen Davudyan said.

He said operations center has been launched both in Yerevan and Tehran airports.

The death toll includes many Iranian citizens.

15:37

The list of those who died after Tehran-Yerevan aircraft crashed today is already available in Zvartnots airport in Yerevan

Operations center has been launched in the Zvartnots airport.

The relatives of the dead have arrived in Zvartnots airport and they are provided with medical aid if necessary. Caspian Airlines representative provides them with information they need.

Total of 158 passengers including two children and 15 crew members were on board. Majority of passengers were Armenian citizens.

14:59

There were 153 people on the board of aircraft Tehran-Yerevan that crashed in Iran. Iran's Caspian Airlines owned the aircraft, representative office of the company told Novosti-Armenia.
 
According to interlocutor of the agency, there were mainly Armenian citizens on the board. There were also Georgian citizens on the board. According to preliminary information, all passengers have died.

14:29

A passenger aircraft crashed in the Iranian Qazvin city and 150 people died as a result, Mehr news agency reported.

"The Tu-154 passenger airbus has crashed. All passengers of the airbus died. There is not exact information about the incident," Qazvin City Police Chief and General Masud Jafari said.

He said they are seeking to get new reports about the incident.

/Trend News/

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