IRAN: More than 100 people were killed yesterday when an Iranian military aircraft carrying scores of journalists hit a 10-storey block of flats in Tehran.
All those aboard - 10 crew and 84 passengers - were killed. The other victims were residents. The coroner's office said it expected the final toll to be between 110 and 120.
The crash took place as the aircraft, said by news agencies to be a C-130 Hercules manufactured in the US, was returning to Mehrabad international airport shortly after take off.
Police said the pilot reported engine trouble and was planning to make an emergency landing, but the aircraft crashed just short of the runway. A wing clipped the top of the block of flats and most of the fuselage then dropped to the foot of the building. It flattened cars parked beside the building and killed occupants.
Residents of the block of flats fled through dense smoke to escape. A policeman said: "Some people were throwing themselves out of windows to escape the flames. I saw two die like that."
Iran has been the scene of many air accidents in recent years and blames this in part on US sanctions that block the arrival of spare parts. Many of the military aircraft were bought from the US before the revolution in 1979 and are still in operation.
The aircraft, part of the army's air arm, was taking journalists to Bandar Abbas, a port city in the south, to view military exercises.
Several children, at home because schools were closed due to a smog alert in the capital, were among those who died in the block of flats. Firemen succeeded in putting out the blaze.
The charred building, which housed about 250, is in the Shahrak-e Towhid neighbourhood, inhabited mainly by members of the military and their families. It lies on the airport flight path.
The front of the aircraft was destroyed but parts of a wing and propeller could be seen at the bottom of the building, still smouldering last night.
Police cordoned off the building and the surrounding area. Many in the crowd were screaming, fearful their relatives had been killed, and there were scuffles with the police.
Iranian reporters and cameramen at the scene wept for colleagues aboard the flight.
A news agency journalist who declined to be identified said he was meant to be on board, but a colleague called him from inside before take off.
"He said the pilot didn't want to fly because there was a technical problem with the plane."