Posted on 12/07/2005 4:33:22 AM PST by nuconvert
Iran under fire over plane crash
The authorities in Iran are facing bitter criticism over Tuesday's crash of an ageing military transport plane that killed about 110 people. Reports say the plane had experienced technical problems all morning, causing the take-off to be delayed for hours.
Iranian media also say the pilot had asked twice to make an emergency landing at Mehrabad airport, but had been refused because it was busy.
Military officials have strongly denied any suggestion of negligence.
The C-130 came down in a densely-populated residential district of south-west Tehran and ploughed into a 10-storey apartment block, setting it on fire.
Among those killed were 68 journalists being flown to the southern city of Bandar Abbas to report on military exercises.
The Iranian culture minister, Mohammad Hoseyn Saffar-Harandi, called the crash a "disaster for the journalistic community" and declared a day of mourning.
Technical problems
The wife of a photographer who was killed in the crash, Mohammad Karbalai, told the conservative Hamshahri newspaper that she had spoken to him shortly before the plane took off.
"The plane should have taken off at seven in the morning. My husband called me from the plane at eight to say there were technical problems. I was very worried," she said.
"I called him back at 10 o'clock, and the plane was still on the ground. He said the pilot was refusing to take off because of technical problems."
A Hamshahri editorial demanded that the authorities explain why a plane said to have technical problems was authorised to take off.
In the reformist Sharq newspaper, Rasul Khadem, a member of Tehran City Council, attacked the military for taking unnecessary risks.
"How much longer are we going to play with lives? How much longer do we have to use planes that should be sent to the scrap heap?" Mr Khadem said.
Military dismisses 'rumours'
The BBC's correspondent in Tehran, Frances Harrison, says some unconfirmed reports claim the pilot himself was unhappy about the condition of the plane and the same plane nearly crashed in the desert a week ago.
Its engines had to be switched on and off five times before it could take off on its final flight, she says.
Army officials have strongly denied any negligence and because this was a military flight, many people are wary about asking tough questions about their safety procedures, our correspondent says.
The Iranian air force is believed to have about 15 US-made C-130s in operation, dating back to before the 1979 Islamic revolution and the US boycott of Iran.
The country's civil and military aircraft have a poor safety record.
In 2003, an Iranian Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in south-east Iran killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew aboard.
Officials blame the high frequency of crashes on a lack of aviation spare parts due to US sanctions.
All right dang it. You made me smile while I am trying really hard to be sad about this.
I think the plural of "doofus" should be "doofi". :-)
I think the plural of "doofus" should be "doofi". :-)
Iran can build nuclear reactors, but can't manufacture spare parts for its aircraft?
It reminds me of the lawyer jokes about plane/bus whatever crashing with one empty seat being a tradgedy.
"How are US sanctions to blame when a Russian built Ilyushin crashes?"
But for the sanctions, they wouldn't have to buy Russian hardware.
Lol. Did you know, the guy that plays the "soup nazi" is Iranian?
bump
FReeper DoctorZin's blog "Regime Change Iran" has been nominated for Best Middle East Blog on the web. Vote here
http://weblogawards.org/2005/12/best_middle_east_or_africa_blo.php
I can't think of any activity that would have had a higher priority than an aircraft declaring an emergency.
You wouldn't think so. But it's Iran, so you never know.
Correction on the soup nazi thing. The real guy (the real soup nazi) that they got the idea for the storyline from, is Iranian. His name is Al Yeganeh.
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