Turkish jet carrying 11 crashes in Iran’s mountains

A Turkish private jet carrying 11 people crashed in Iran's Zagros mountainous region and all aboard are presumed dead.

The plane, which was flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul, Turkey, crashed in a mountainous area on Sunday evening, Reza Jafarzade from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization told Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). 

The Canadian-made Bombardier CL604 aircraft reportedly burst into flames near Shahr-e Kord city, about 370km south of the capital, Tehran. 

"We can confirm that a Turkish private jet ... while passing through our airspace disappeared from the radar and crashed near Shahr-e Kord," Jafarzadeh said.

No deaths have been confirmed so far. According to IRNA, six teams of rescue workers had been dispatched to the scene.

It wasn't clear who was on the plane at the time of the crash, though Iranian emergency management officials described all eight passengers as being young women, IRNA reported.

The plane was also carrying three crew members, an official for Turkey's transport ministry said.

Snowy weather
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Tasnim news agency quoted an ICAO official as saying: "The plane was on fire. After the pilot asked to lower altitude, it disappeared from the radar."

Turkey's NTV channel, quoting the Turkish transport ministry, said the plane belonged to Istanbul-based Basaran Holding Company, which is active in the energy, construction and tourism sectors.

Kerem Kinik, head of the Turkish Red Crescent, told Reuters news agency there was "no chance" of any survivors, given the aircraft was a jet and flying in snowy weather. But the aid agency was unable to officially confirm fatalities yet, he added.

He said the eight passengers included at least one member of Basaran's family and, in a Twitter posting, offered condolences.

The incident comes weeks after an Iranian passenger plane with 65 people on board crashed in central Iran during a flight from Tehran to Yasuj, killing all on board.

The plane went down on February 18 in a mountainous area near the town of Semirom.