Russian Experts in Iran to Study Cause of Antonov Plane Crash
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A team of air accident experts from Russia are in Iran to help in investigations on the cause of last year's crash of an An-140 plane in Tehran, which killed 39 people, an Iranian official told the Tasnim News Agency.
Hamid Habibi, the deputy head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization for the flight standard affairs, announced on Monday that the team of Russian experts arrived in Tehran last night to answer the questions of the Iranian team responsible for probing into the crash.
The two teams will jointly study the Antonov plane crash, Habibi said.
The plane, an Iran-140 of Ukraine's Antonov origin, crashed on August 10, 2014, in west of the capital Tehran, shortly after take-off from Mehrabad Airport.
The aircraft had 48 passengers and crew on board, of whom 39 died.
Hours after the crash, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the grounding of the entire fleet of the country's Iran-140 planes.
According to Rouhani's order, the ban will remain in place until full investigation is conducted into the cause of the crash.
The Antonov An-140 commercial passenger airplane is a twin-engine turbojet aircraft, which can accommodate up to 100 passengers.
After purchasing the production license for the An-140 from Ukraine in 2000, Iran built its first Iran-140 passenger plane in 2003.
