2 passengers injured as Iranian plane goes off runway

At least two passengers were injured as an Iranian passenger plane went off runway while it was landing in the southern Mahshahr city airport on Monday, semi-official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported.

Ali Khodadadi, chief of Red Crescent Society of southwestern Khuzestan province, told ISNA that a man and a woman were hurt on their legs when the accident happened.

A footage by the ISNA showed that the plane blocked the width of Sarbandar-Mahshar highway after it went off the runway and was dragged out of the airport complex.

The passengers were jumping out of the front door of the plane which was stock in the middle of the highway, the footage showed.

The lower part of the plane, the wheels, as well as the front and back parts of it were damaged seriously.

Reza Dolatshahi, police chief of Khuzestan province, said that the Sarbandar-Mahshar highway is closed and the plane will be removed by the afternoon, according to ISNA.
Unconfirmed media reports said that the plane was carrying 135 passengers.

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The cause of incident is under investigation, the police chief said.

The passengers are in “good condition,” the Civil Aviation chief Reza Jafari told Tasnim news agency.

The flight 6936, en route from Tehran to Mahshahr city, belonged to the Iranian Caspian Airway.

According to the local reports, on Sunday, the engine of Gorgan-Tehran passenger plane caught fire before it took off.

On Saturday, a flight, belonging to Iran Air Tour Airline and was bound from Tehran to Istanbul, made an emergency landing in Tehran International Mehrabad Airport minutes after it take-off. Technical failure was cited as the cause of accident.

Source: Xinhua – TEHRAN