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Up to 46 people were feared dead after a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed Monday near the central Iranian city of Isfahan, local reports said.
The state television quoted the Iranian civil aviation administration as saying the Antonov plane, which was travelling from Turkey to Iran, crashed at 7:30 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).
The plane lost contact with the controlling tower in Isfahan's Shahid Beheshti Airport before it crashed, according to the television.
The state radio said the plane carrying 42 passengers and four crew members took off from Turkey's Black Sea city of Trabzon.
An Iranian emergency team has reached the crash site, which is located 70 km from Ardestan, south of Tehran, local reports said.
Most of the victims are Ukrainian aeronautics experts who were travelling to attend a test flight of the Iran-140, a joint venture of Iran and Ukraine, said sources at Shahid Beheshti Airport in Isfahan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hamid Reza Asefi has sent condolences to the families of victims who also included several Russians, state radio reported.
(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2002)
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