A passenger plane carrying 66 people has crashed in southern Iran, the country’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The report on Sunday said the plane crashed near the remote mountain town of Semirom, some 390 miles south of Tehran, the capital.
The report identified the plane as an ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying.
It said the plane was flying from Tehran to the southern Iranian city of Yasuj.
Authorities said the plane was flown by Aseman Airlines, a semi-private air carrier headquartered in Tehran that specializes in flights to remote airfields across the country. It also flies internationally.
The Iranian Red Crescent said it has deployed to the area, which was quite foggy at the time of the crash. Authorities said they would be investigating.
Under decades of international sanctions, Iran’s commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly in recent years.
Following the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed deals with both Airbus and Boeing to buy scores of passenger planes.
