Turkish Business Jet Crashes in Iran

TEHRAN — A Turkish business jet carrying eight passengers and three crew members crashed into a mountain in central Iran on Sunday, the Iranian authorities said. The plane was traveling from Istanbul to the Emirate of Sharjah. The plane was reportedly owned by Basaran Holding, a company active in construction and building luxury yachts.

Shortly before the plane dropped off the radar, the pilot requested to fly at a lower altitude, Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority told local media organizations. Images on social media showed a large plume of black smoke emerging from the Zagros Mountains near Shahr-e Kord.

Emergency services were sent to the area but the remains of the aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 600 had not yet been found. It was unclear if there were any survivors.

Mojtaba Khaledii, the spokesman for Iran’s emergency services, told state television that it will take four hours on foot to get to the crash site. Iran has a shortage of emergency helicopters because of decades of sanctions against the country.

In February, a passenger aircraft carrying 66 people crashed during a blizzard into Mount Dena, near the city of Yasuj. Rescue operations took several days because of extreme weather conditions and the lack of preparedness by the emergency services.

Iran is a popular route for planes flying to the United Arab Emirates, as its airspace is much safer than that over other countries in the region like Iraq and Syria.

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