Death Toll Now 128 in Iranian Plane Crash

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A military transport plane loaded with Iranian journalists and trying to make an emergency landing slammed into a 10-story apartment building, ripping open the top of the structure and igniting a huge fire. At least 128 people were killed.

All 94 people on the plane were killed, most of them Iranian journalists heading to cover military maneuvers in the south. Thirty-four residents of the apartment building also died, and 90 were injured, Tehran state radio said.

Flames leaped out of windows, from the roof and several other floors of the building as panicked residents fled the Towhid complex, a series of high-rise apartment buildings for air force personnel in the Azadi suburb of Tehran.

Wreckage rained down, hitting a nearby gas station, police said. Cars parked below were smashed by falling debris...


The C-130 aircraft had just taken off from the nearby Mehrabad airport en route to Bandar Abbas, a port city in southern Iran. It experienced a technical problem and was returning the Mehrabad for an emergency landing when it hit the building, state-run television said.

The plane, which belonged to the army air force, carried 84 passengers and 10 crew members, Iranian television reported. All aboard were killed, the mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told The Associated Press.

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Newspapers in Iran are both angry and cynical about the plane crash in Tehran on Tuesday in which over 100 people died.

Commentators are scathing about the lack of adequate safety checks said to be a widespread issue in Iran. The fact that many journalists were among the dead adds piquancy to their comments.

The moderate Mardom-Salari is convinced that nobody will be called to account for the accident.

"It is impossible for a plane to be checked technically before its flight in this country so that it doesn't fly if there is a problem.

"The incineration of 130 people won't change anything in the country... we have made representations on more than 10 occasions and basically no-one listens to us."

According to the reformist Sharq, "the people are fed up with all of this bad news, they are fed up with so many air crashes".

The conservative Hamshahri says officials should be called to account over the fact that so many journalists were allowed to travel together on "an old aeroplane".

It also points out that "the aforementioned aeroplane had requested an emergency landing twice yesterday and the control tower didn't issue landing permission".

The hard-line Keyhan calls on the authorities to investigate whether there was "negligence or blame involved in issuing a flight permit for that iron bird... the iron bird that took our friends on a flight of no return".

Iran News believes that "each human life is precious and the government must do everything in its power to protect the life of its citizens...



Tehran Times quotes military officials as placing the blame outside the country.

"The main cause of the crash of the aging US-built C-130 was the fact that the United States has placed sanctions on the Islamic Republic banning the sale of airplane spare parts to Iran."

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The conservative Hamshahri says officials should be called to account over the fact that so many journalists were allowed to travel together on "an old aeroplane".

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A group of Iranian MPs has launched an attempt to sack the country's defence minister over the crash of a military plane in Tehran on Tuesday.
Forty-nine MPs have signed a motion to impeach Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, saying his mismanagement was to blame for the crash, in which more than 100 died.

Parliamentary authorities will decide whether to allow a vote on the motion.

Observers say the move could be a political embarrassment for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It comes soon after he resolved a dispute with parliament over his nominations for oil minister.

The text of the impeachment motion was not published, but the authorities have been under pressure over suggestions that the pilot was forced to fly the plane despite raising concerns about its airworthiness.

Lawmaker Gholamhossein Mozaffari told an open session of the parliament: "On behalf of the families of the victims, I expect that dismissal or resignation of the defence minister is the first serious step in dealing with the crash."

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The speaker of the Iranian parliament has accepted a motion to impeach the defence minister over the crash of a military plane in Tehran last week.
Forty-nine MPs signed a motion on Monday calling for Mostafa Mohammad Najjar to be questioned over the crash and subjected to a vote of confidence.

The motion blames mismanagement for the crash in which more than 100 died.

Military officials have strongly denied any suggestion of negligence and have launched an investigation.

But Iran's media have criticised the military for the lack of adequate safety checks.

Questions

The motion for impeachment presented by the Majlis majority faction raised the following questions:


On what basis was a military plane used for public transport and who gave permission for tickets to be sold to passengers?

Why was the plane allowed to fly without establishing whether technical problems reported earlier had been solved?

Why was the plane not allowed to land at Mehrabad airport while three of its engines were still working?

Why was take-off delayed for five hours?

How much was the excess weight of the plane and where was its centre of gravity?

Why did the military operations base not give the necessary instructions to the pilot after one engine caught fire?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promised to get to the bottom of the disaster.

The impeachment motion is yet another set-back for the president from a parliament that only approved his choice for oil minister after three months of political deadlock.

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Reports say the plane had experienced technical problems all morning, causing the take-off to be delayed for hours.

The conservative Hamshahri newspaper also claims that the plane had requested an emergency landing twice and had been denied permission by the control tower at Mehrabad airport...


A local newspaper has threatened to publish a transcript of the exchanges between the pilot and the control tower if there are any attempts at a cover-up, our correspondent says.

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The authorities in Iran are facing bitter criticism over Tuesday's crash of an ageing military transport plane that killed about 110 people.

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Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said: "The combination of a regime with a radical agenda, together with a distorted sense of reality that is clearly indicated by the statements we heard today, put together with nuclear weapons -- I think that's a dangerous combination that no one in the international community can accept."

"What the Iranian president has shown us today is that he is clearly outside the international consensus, he is clearly outside international norms and international legitimacy, and in so doing he has shown the Iranian government for what it is -- a rogue regime opposed to peace and stability and a threat to all its neighboring countries," Regev said.

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Some conservative allies in Iran have criticized the current president's remarks, AP reported, because they fear he is damaging the country's image.

Moderates have urged the ruling Islamic establishment to rein in the president. But Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supports Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel's elimination, the news agency added.

Tehran-based political analyst Mahmoud Alinejad said the president could feel his speeches strengthen Iran diplomatically.

"There is a perception, based on past experience that only when Iran threatens and pushes does the West back off," he told Reuters.

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