Two Iranian jets collide on ground, 10 burnt to death

Two Iranian jets collide on ground, 10 burnt to death
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, FEBRUARY 2: Ten people were killed when an Iranair Airbus and a military transport plane collided on the ground on Wednesday at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

Only airport workers were aboard the airbus, but it was not immediately clear how many people were aboard each aircraft or if there were any survivors.

"We pulled out six charred bodies from the wreckage," said a firefighter on the scene, who refused to give his name. A paramedic at Iranair's medical center at the airport confirmed that the remains of six people had been brought to the clinic.

Behzad Mazaheri, head of the civil aviation organisation, told IRNA that ten people were killed in the collision. Airport authorities would not comment.

"I cannot say anything until I've been to the tower and surveyed the scene," Iranair chief Ahmad Reza Kazemi told the Associated Press as he was entering the airport. He was accompanied by Transportation Minister Mahmoud Hojjati, who also would notcomment.

IRNA said that an Iranair Airbus-A300 passenger plane was taxiing toward the hangar for maintenance when it collided with an Iranian C-130 military transporter that was speeding for takeoff.

Both aircrafts caught fire, and firefighters said it took nearly two hours to extinguish the flames, IRNA and firefighters said firefighters said both planes were completely burned.