Asia

Asia

Weather not to blame for Iran crash

13 January 2011 22:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An Iranian lawmaker has cast doubt on reports blaming Sunday’s deadly plane crash in the northwest of the country on poor weather conditions, APA reports quoting Press TV.

On January 9, an American-made Boeing 727 crashed near Lake Orumiyeh, 700 kilometers (almost 435 miles) northwest of Tehran, claiming the lives of at least 77 passengers and crew members onboard the aircraft.

The flight took off from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport en route to the northwestern city of Orumiyeh.

The Iran Air-operated plane was preparing to land on the International Orumiyeh Airport runway when it disappeared from radar and crashed in a farmland shortly afterwards.

â€œPoor weather conditions should not be announced as the cause of the Tehran-Orumiyeh plane crash,â€ Mehr news agency quoted Mohsen Nariman as saying on Thursday.

â€œIran Air is one of the country’s major airliners and therefore the occurrence of such an incident to this airline calls for reflection,â€ Nariman noted.

The lawmaker dismissed reports that rushed to blame the deadly accident on poor eyesight caused by bad weather conditions as â€œa little unbelievable.â€

Pilots in each flight get informed on the weather conditions of their destinations before the takeoff and the flight was actually allowed after it was assured the weather conditions were favorable for the flight, he argued.

Nariman said Iranian transport minister and Iran Air’s directing manager would be summoned by the parliament to answer questions about the professional background of the flight’s pilot and give technical information about the Boeing 727.

The parliamentarian also pointed out that the testimonies by survivors from the deadly crash indicated that the pilot was not able to land the plane and had to take off again, which was perhaps due to a faulty engine.