Iran aircrash 168 feared dead

An Iranian airliner crashed into farmland in the northwest of the country yesterday. All 168 people on board are believed to be dead, local media reported. The Caspian Airlines plane crashed near the city of Qazvin, northwest of the capital, just 16 minutes after takeoff from Tehran's international Imam Khomeiny airport, local media said.

State television's website said there were 168 people on board and "most probably all were dead."

The official IRNA news agency said the plane took off at 11:33 am (0703 GMT) en route to the Armenian capital of Yerevan. "The passenger plane was completed destroyed and the wreckage was scattered everywhere," IRNA quoted Qazvin police chief Masoud Jafari Nasab as saying. "Most probably all passengers on board have been killed in the crash," he said, adding that the plane had crashed in farmland near the village of Janat Abad. English-language state-run channel Press TV said the plane was believed to be a Russian-built Tupolev. Tehran, Wednesday, AFP