Iranian airliner crashes in mountains; all 118 aboard believed dead

KHORRAMABAD, Iran — An Iranian passenger jet crashed yesterday in the mountains of western Iran amid snow and rain, and all 118 passengers and crew on board were believed dead, an official said.

Residents reported hearing an explosion and seeing the sky lit up red as the Russian-made Tu-154 went down in the Sefid Kouh Mountains outside Khorramabad.

Rescue workers were delayed by snow and heavy fog before finally reaching the crash site. Reza Niknam, an adviser to the governor-general of Lorestan province, said he saw many remains on the mountainside and believes nobody could have survived.

"All the passengers and crew members died in the crash," he said.

Hamid Fouladvand, another official who managed to reach the crash site, described the grim scene.

"I saw dozens of bodies scattered deep in the valley. I also saw pieces of the plane. Wolves and bears were in the area and if the bodies aren't collected soon, they will be eaten," Fouladvand said.

The cause of the crash of the Iran Air Tours flight from Tehran to Khorramambad, about 230 miles to the southwest, wasn't known, though it had been raining and snowing in the mountains at the time of the crash.

The plane lost contact with the control tower at Khorramabad airport moments before it crashed at 7:55 a.m., 15 miles west of Khorramabad, state-run Iranian television said.