Iran airline retracts toll of 66 dead in plane crash: media

A French-made ATR-72 owned by Iran’s Aseman Airlines sits on the tarmac at Dubai airport on July 29, 2008. /AFP/

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s Aseman Airlines on Sunday retracted its statement that all 66 people aboard a passenger plane had died after it crashed, as rescue teams struggled to find the wreckage.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane crashed amid severe weather in the Zagros mountains after taking off on a domestic flight from Tehran.

“Given the special circumstances of the region, we still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers of this plane,” Mohammad Tabatabaie, Aseman’s public relations chief, told the ISNA news agency.

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