Iran mourns plane crash victims

TEHRAN – Tens of thousands of mourners packed central Tehran yesterday for a mass funeral for dozens of people killed when a military plane ploughed into a densely populated area of the Iranian capital.

With the authorities facing furious allegations that the decrepit plane should never have taken to the air, several officials sought to calm emotions by promising a full investigation into the disaster. Official media said 106 bodies were recovered from the scene of the crash while an additional two people died in hospital.Among the dead were 68 journalists and photographers who were flying to the south of the country to report on army exercises.Even ordinary people turned up to pay their respects as the coffins – containing 55 of the 82 charred bodies that authorities have managed to identify – rolled by with full military honours and covered in flowers and the Iranian flag.”We wake up early every day and watch Hamid Reza Kheilka on the television,” Mohammad Alipour, a civil servant, said of one of the dead state media reporters.The Lockheed C-130 transport workhorse – bought from the United States before the Islamic revolution nearly three decades ago and starved of spare parts – crashed in a heavily-populated area Tehran on Tuesday.It plunged into the foot of a high-rise housing block having suffered engine failure immediately after taking off from central Tehran’s Mehrabad airport.All 94 passengers and crew plus several people on the ground were killed.- Nampa-AFPOfficial media said 106 bodies were recovered from the scene of the crash while an additional two people died in hospital.Among the dead were 68 journalists and photographers who were flying to the south of the country to report on army exercises.Even ordinary people turned up to pay their respects as the coffins – containing 55 of the 82 charred bodies that authorities have managed to identify – rolled by with full military honours and covered in flowers and the Iranian flag.”We wake up early every day and watch Hamid Reza Kheilka on the television,” Mohammad Alipour, a civil servant, said of one of the dead state media reporters.The Lockheed C-130 transport workhorse – bought from the United States before the Islamic revolution nearly three decades ago and starved of spare parts – crashed in a heavily-populated area Tehran on Tuesday.It plunged into the foot of a high-rise housing block having suffered engine failure immediately after taking off from central Tehran’s Mehrabad airport.All 94 passengers and crew plus several people on the ground were killed.- Nampa-AFP