(10 Aug 2014) An Iranian regional passenger plane crashed on Sunday while taking off from the capital, Tehran, killing 39 people and injuring nine others, an Iranian official said.
The aircraft, an Iran-140 typically used for short domestic flights, crashed near Tehran's Mehrabad airport, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The plane went down in a residential area after its engine went out, the agency reported.
Members of the Revolutionary Guard worked to secure the crash site and security and rescue personnel combed the wreckage as onlookers gathered shortly after the plane went down.
The plane's mangled but largely intact tail section was torn from the fuselage and came to rest on a nearby road.
An eyewitness told AP Television that he saw the plane crash into a wall, which led to several explosions.
The plane, operated by Sepahan Air, was heading to Tabas, a town in eastern Iran.
It took off at 9:20 a.m. local time (0450 GMT) and crashed shortly afterward.
The Iran-140 is a twin-engine turboprop plane based on Ukrainian technology that is assembled under license in Iran.
Mehrabad, located in western Tehran, is the busier of two main airports serving the Iranian capital, and primarily handles domestic flights.
Most international flights use the newer Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Iran has suffered a series of airplane crashes, blamed on its aging aircraft and poor maintenance.
Iranian airlines, including those run by the state, are chronically strapped for cash, and maintenance has suffered, experts say.
US sanctions prevent Iran from updating its American aircraft and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well.
The country has come to rely on Russian aircraft, many of them Soviet-era planes that are harder to get parts for since the Soviet Union's fall.
The last major airliner crash in Iran happened 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.

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