Bad weather made the Iranian emergency and rescue teams start their operation on Sunday by land to access the site of the ATR-200 passenger plane crashed earlier this morning over the Dena Mountains in southwestern Iran.

An emergency helicopter dispatched to the Padena region, 120 Km from Semirom in Isfahan Province, could not land as a result of the thick fog and the harsh weather conditions in the area.

Twenty rescue teams from the Red Crescent Organization have been sent to the region, but the area is very difficult to pass with the rescue teams almost inching towards the crash.

According to official reports the chances for the 66 passengers and crews to be alive are remote.

There is not yet any information on the real cause of the Asseman Airlines plane crash but what remains to be certain is that the small-sized passenger plane belonged to the older generation of the ATR-200 class type.

Some reports even suggested that the same plane flying in the same route from Tehran to Yassouj, the capital city of Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad Province on January 25, 2018, had to return to Tehran for technical issues.

This is while, flight officials said no technical problems were diagnosed for the ATR flight number 3407 to be cancelled and it left Tehran's Mehrabad Airport at 7:55 local time.

But 50 minutes later the plane disappeared from radar screens.

Now all eyes are on the rescue teams to find their way through the harsh weather in the rough mountainous region to reach the debris of the plane, and recover the bodies as well as the black box of the crashed plane.

 

News ID 189034