A commercial plane carrying 66 people has crashed in southern Iran, according to reports.

The report from the semi-official Fars news agency said the plane crashed near the remote mountain town of Semirom, 620 kilometres, 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 new passenger planes.

Authorities said the plane was flown by Aseman Airlines, a semi-private air carrier headquartered in Tehran that specialises in flights to remote airfields across the country.

The Iranian Red Crescent said it has deployed to the area, which was quite foggy at the time of the crash.

Authorities said they would be investigating.

 

Read more at Independent