Black boxes from Iranian crash found

All 168 people aboard the Russian-built airliner were killed, Iran’s state news media said. The plane, leased by Tehran-based Caspian Airlines, had been bound for the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

, an official with the Iranian transportation ministry, told Press TV in Tehran on Thursday that the so-called black boxes had been damaged in the crash and Iranian experts were trying to retrieve the data from them. He said the black boxes, which record the crew’s conversations and the plane’s speed, altitude and heading, might have to be sent to Russia for repair.

The Iranian news agency ISNA reported that a delegation of five Russian experts would travel to Iran on Friday to assist in the probe.

The plane that crashed on Wednesday, a Tupolev 154, was carrying 153 passengers, a crew of 15, and was loaded with fuel, Iranian news services said.

Witnesses quoted by Press TV and other Iranian news agencies said that the tail and at least one of the tail engines were on fire as the plane plummeted, and that it exploded in flames on impact, creating a crater 30 feet deep and scattering body parts and wreckage.

Technical problem
Sirous Saberi, deputy governor of Qazvin Province, said the plane had a technical problem shortly after takeoff and was trying to return to the airport in Tehran.