Plane fault 'caused Iran crash'

Friends and relatives gathered at the crash site for a service on Thursday The crash of a Caspian Airlines flight that left 168 people dead was probably caused by technical problems, an Iranian official has said. Deputy Transport Minister Ahmad Majidi was quoted as saying that the plane's pilot was probably not to blame. The Russian-built Tupolev plane crashed on Wednesday in farmland in Qazvin province, 120km (75 miles) north-west of Tehran, killing everyone on board. Flight data recorders have been recovered but are badly damaged. The plane, which was flying from the Iranian capital to Yerevan in Armenia, crashed 16 minutes after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. Witnesses said the 22-year-old Tu-154, which had 153 passengers and 15 crew, nose-dived from the sky with its tail on fire. In pictures: Iran plane crash Wreckage was scattered over a large area. On Thursday, state television said the cause of the crash was still unknown. But Mr Majidi was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying that the pilot was experienced and the crash was "likely due to technical problems". He added that the flight data recorders, or "black boxes", might be sent to Russia for analysis. "Because of the severity of the crash, the two black box recorders found are badly damaged, even though they are made of steel," Mr Majidi said. "The tapes were out on the ground. We might send the black box to the country where it was manufactured [Russia] to chase the issue with their help." Most of those on board the flight were Iranian, though there were also some Armenian and Georgian citizens. IRANIAN PLANE CRASHES Feb 2006: Tupolev crashes in Tehran, kills 29 people Dec 2005: C-130 military plane crashes near Tehran, kills 110 Feb 2003: Iranian military plane crashes, kills all 276 on board Feb 2002: Tupolev crashes in west Iran, kills all 199 on board Air disasters timeline Mr Majidi said DNA testing would be needed to identify the remains. Friends and relatives of the victims gathered at the crash site for a religious ceremony on Thursday, throwing flowers into the crater created when the plane hit the ground. Archbishop Sebo Sarkissian of Iran's Armenian community was among those to take part. It was the third deadly crash of a Tupolev Tu-154 in Iran since 2002. Correspondents say Iran's civil and military air fleets are made up of elderly aircraft, in poor condition due to their age and lack of maintenance. Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, trade embargoes by Western nations have forced Iran to buy mainly Russian-built planes to supplement an existing fleet of Boeings and other American and European models.