Iran’s Parliament to probe into tragic plane crash

The Iranian Majlis (Parliament) is soon to launch a probe into the cause of a Russian-made passenger plane crash in the northwestern Qazvin province that claimed 168 lives.

According to a report published by the IRNA news agency, the Sunday session is going to be attended by the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Ali Ilkhani, as well as the managing director of Caspian Airways which the jet belonged to, Asghar Razzaqi.

The Tu-154M plane had taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning and was heading to the Armenian capital of Yerevan. The plane went down and was blasted to bits at 11:30 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) only 16 minutes after takeoff.

The Tupolev jet was carrying 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers. Most of the victims were from Iran’s large ethnic Armenian community. Eleven members of the country’s national youth judo team also died in the tragic event.

MP/MMA