Military plane crash kills at least 15 in Iran

A military cargo plane that overshot a runway, crashed and caught fire in Iran killed at least 15 people, the army said on Monday.

The plane was carrying meat from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan when it crashed near the capital Tehran, an army spokesman told state TV, adding that only the flight engineer survived.

"The plane had 16 passengers, 14 of whom were the army crew and two were civilians; 15 were martyred," spokesman Amir Taghikhani said. "One, the flight engineer, was injured and is currently in hospital."

"A (Boeing) cargo 707 plane carrying meat took off from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and had an emergency landing at Fath airport this morning," the army said in a statement on its website.

Fath airport is in Alborz province, just northwest of Tehran.

Several bodies found

"It exited the runway during the landing and caught fire after hitting the wall at the end of the runway," the army statement said.

Fire immediately engulfed the aircraft after it skidded off a runway and crashed into a wall separating the airfield from a residential neighbourhood. 

Images carried by Iran's state-run media showed the burned-out tail of the plane sticking out, surrounded by charred homes.

Earlier, Iran's state TV said the bodies of seven people had been found.

"We have recovered seven bodies from the wreckage of the plane ... the search continues," the head of Iran's emergency department, Pirhossein Kolivand told state TV.

Black box found

Investigators found the plane's black box, which will provide more details about the crash, deputy Alborz governor Azizollah Shahbazi told Tasnim news agency.

Iran's aging air fleet has had a string of crashes in recent years.

Iran's Aseman Airlines was ordered to ground its fleet of ATR planes in February last year after one of them crashed in the Zagros mountains, killing all 66 people onboard.

Iran has been subject to tough US sanctions for years, hindering the purchase of new planes and critical spare parts for the US-made planes in its air force, civilian flag carrier Iran Air and domestic airlines.

Hopes of a change in the situation were dashed last May when Washington pulled out of a landmark 2015 deal over Iran's nuclear programme, reimposing sanctions that had been lifted as part of the multilateral accord.