15 Killed as Boeing 707 Cargo Plane Crashes
First Casualties of Trump Sanctions
TEHRAN (Dispatches) – An Iranian Boeing 707 cargo plane carrying meat from Kyrgyzstan crashed on Monday while trying to land west of Iran’s capital, killing 15 people on board and leaving a sole survivor, authorities said.
The crash of the jetliner is yet another testimony to the falseness of U.S. claims that its most draconian sanctions do not target ordinary Iranians who hoped the country to replace its ageing fleet under terms of a 2015 nuclear deal.
But instead, U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the accord in May scuttled billions of dollars in planned sales by Airbus and Boeing Co. to the Islamic Republic, only increasing the danger for passengers in Iranian planes.
The aircraft, which bore the paint scheme of the Iranian air force’s civilian Saha Airlines, was an making emergency landing around 8:30am on Monday at Fath Airport.
The plane skidded off the runway, crashed through a perimeter fence and into a residential neighborhood.
Iranian state television aired images of smoke-charred homes and the fuselage of the aircraft lying on the ground in the neighborhood. Nearby was one of its landing gears, torn away. Small fires burned around it.
The plane was meant to land at the nearby Payam International Airport, about 40 kilometers west of Tehran, the Iranian capital.
Authorities did not immediately offer a reason for the crew’s decision to land instead at Fath Airport. That airport is some 10 kilometers southwest of Payam. Its runway is some 1,100-metres long, compared to Payam’s 3,600 meters.
In November, a commercial airline reportedly mistook Fath for Payam, but was able to abort its landing. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency later quoted an anonymous aviation official saying Monday’s doomed flight likewise mistook Fath for Payam. Pirhussein Koulivand, the head of the country’s emergency medical services, said that of the 16 people on board the plane, only the flight engineer was known to have survived. IRNA reported all 15 bodies of the crew who died had been recovered by Monday afternoon.
Iran’s air force said in a statement that the fate of the crew is under investigation.
The plane reportedly was carrying a cargo of meat from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, to Iran. Since 2016, Iran has been importing meat from Kyrgyzstan, usually via Saha. It imported 150 tons in 2016 and 350 tons in 2017.
Saha Airlines operated one of the world’s last commercial flights of the Boeing 707, which was first manufactured in 1958 and helped usher in the jet age. The four-engine, narrow-body aircraft were built until 1979.
Maintenance information was not immediately available. However, Iran has struggled to obtain parts for its ageing fleet of airlines, nearly all purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Saha Airlines’ Boeing 707s suffered a previous fatal crash in April 2005, when a flight coming from the Kish island crash-landed at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, killing three passengers.
Iran has suffered a series of major aviation disasters in recent decades. Its last major crash happened in February 2018, when an Aseman Airlines ATR-72 brought back into service only months earlier after being grounded for seven years crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of southern Iran, killing all 65 people aboard.
In January 2011, when an Iran Air Boeing 727 broke to pieces on impact while trying an emergency landing in a snowstorm in northwestern Iran, killing at least 77 people.
In July 2009, a Russian-made jetliner crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran, killing all 168 on board. A Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps crashed in southeastern Iran in February 2003, killing 302 people.
In February 1993, an Iranian airliner with 132 people aboard collided with an air force jet after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing everyone on the two aircraft. And in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the Strait of Hormuz shot down an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai, killing all 290 people aboard.
The crash of the jetliner is yet another testimony to the falseness of U.S. claims that its most draconian sanctions do not target ordinary Iranians who hoped the country to replace its ageing fleet under terms of a 2015 nuclear deal.
But instead, U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the accord in May scuttled billions of dollars in planned sales by Airbus and Boeing Co. to the Islamic Republic, only increasing the danger for passengers in Iranian planes.
The aircraft, which bore the paint scheme of the Iranian air force’s civilian Saha Airlines, was an making emergency landing around 8:30am on Monday at Fath Airport.
The plane skidded off the runway, crashed through a perimeter fence and into a residential neighborhood.
Iranian state television aired images of smoke-charred homes and the fuselage of the aircraft lying on the ground in the neighborhood. Nearby was one of its landing gears, torn away. Small fires burned around it.
The plane was meant to land at the nearby Payam International Airport, about 40 kilometers west of Tehran, the Iranian capital.
Authorities did not immediately offer a reason for the crew’s decision to land instead at Fath Airport. That airport is some 10 kilometers southwest of Payam. Its runway is some 1,100-metres long, compared to Payam’s 3,600 meters.
In November, a commercial airline reportedly mistook Fath for Payam, but was able to abort its landing. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency later quoted an anonymous aviation official saying Monday’s doomed flight likewise mistook Fath for Payam. Pirhussein Koulivand, the head of the country’s emergency medical services, said that of the 16 people on board the plane, only the flight engineer was known to have survived. IRNA reported all 15 bodies of the crew who died had been recovered by Monday afternoon.
Iran’s air force said in a statement that the fate of the crew is under investigation.
The plane reportedly was carrying a cargo of meat from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, to Iran. Since 2016, Iran has been importing meat from Kyrgyzstan, usually via Saha. It imported 150 tons in 2016 and 350 tons in 2017.
Saha Airlines operated one of the world’s last commercial flights of the Boeing 707, which was first manufactured in 1958 and helped usher in the jet age. The four-engine, narrow-body aircraft were built until 1979.
Maintenance information was not immediately available. However, Iran has struggled to obtain parts for its ageing fleet of airlines, nearly all purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Saha Airlines’ Boeing 707s suffered a previous fatal crash in April 2005, when a flight coming from the Kish island crash-landed at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, killing three passengers.
Iran has suffered a series of major aviation disasters in recent decades. Its last major crash happened in February 2018, when an Aseman Airlines ATR-72 brought back into service only months earlier after being grounded for seven years crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of southern Iran, killing all 65 people aboard.
In January 2011, when an Iran Air Boeing 727 broke to pieces on impact while trying an emergency landing in a snowstorm in northwestern Iran, killing at least 77 people.
In July 2009, a Russian-made jetliner crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran, killing all 168 on board. A Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps crashed in southeastern Iran in February 2003, killing 302 people.
In February 1993, an Iranian airliner with 132 people aboard collided with an air force jet after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing everyone on the two aircraft. And in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the Strait of Hormuz shot down an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai, killing all 290 people aboard.