Plane with passengers aboard crashes in central Iran, all 66 feared dead

Tehran: A passenger plane with 66 people on board crashed in Central Iran on Sunday, spokesman for Iran’s Aseman Airline has told the state TV.

Mohammad Tabatabaie, Aseman's public relations chief, told the ISNA news agency that, "Given the special circumstances of the region, we still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers of this plane".

Earlier, Tabatabai spoke to state TV and said the flight carried 60 passengers, including one child, and six crew members.

The plane crashed in Mount Dena, which is some 440 meters (1,440 feet) tall, he said.

The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near the remote mountain town of Semirom, some 620 kilometers (390 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.

The semi-official Fars news agency says a commercial airplane carrying 66 people has crashed in southern Iran.

The report on Sunday says the plane crashed near the remote mountain town of Semirom, some 620 kilometers, or about 390 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.

The report identified the plane as an ATR-72. It said the plane was flying from Tehran to the southern Iranian city of Yasuj.

Under decades of international sanctions, Iran's commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly in recent years.

Following the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed deals with both Airbus and Boeing to buy scores of passenger planes.