Iran plane crash toll reaches 72

Tehran : The toll in Sunday’s crash of an Iranian airplane touched 72 with the recovery of more bodies, even though 30 people survived the deadly accident, aviation officials said on Monday.

The IranAir Boeing 727, carrying 106 people on board, was flying from Tehran when it came down and broke into pieces near the city of Orumiyeh, a mountenous region, 700km (430 miles) north-west of Tehran.

Details of the survivors are, however, still awaited.

The plane had taken off from Mehr-Abad Airport in the Iranian capital Tehran an hour later than scheduled, and it was making an emergency landing because of bad weather conditions, the officials said.

The rescue efforts were hampered due to heavy snow in the area.

Reports said the plane was about 40 years old but was still flying in Iran.

Passenger airline crashes are not uncommon in Iran which still run ageing fleet and cope with US imposed sanctions.

The US imposed sanction of 1995 bans aviation companies from selling aircraft and repair parts to Iranian airlines directly.