http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6012517%255E2,00.html
A PLANE crash which killed 302 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards has been branded the country's worst ever. The military plane came down in the mountains of southeastern Iran, killing everyone on board, state-run media reported. The plane was en route from Zahedan, on the Pakistan border, to Kerman, about 800kms southeast of Tehran, Tehran television said. It crashed in a mountainous area about 30kms from its destination. The Russian-made Antonov airliner lost contact with the control tower at 5.30pm Wednesday local time (1am AEDT today), according to the reports. The official Islamic Republic News Agency said rescuers had reached the crash site and that all 302 people on board had been killed, making the crash the deadliest in Iran's history. The death toll surpassed the 290 killed on July 3, 1988, when an Iran Air A300 Airbus was shot down over the Persian Gulf by the USS Vincennes. The agency said the plane's passengers and crew were all members of the Revolutionary Guards. Earlier reports said 270 were aboard, but the latest media updates did not explain the increase. No reason was given for the crash. There was heavy snowfall in many parts of Iran on Wednesday, including in Zahedan, which had not seen snow in three years. Tehran television quoted an anonymous official as saying the forces had visited the impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan province, of which Zahedan is the capital, for an "important mission." The Revolutionary Guards, under the direct control of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are seen as the defenders of Iran's Islamic regime. The guards protect Iran's borders and defend ruling hardliners. The Government has issued a statement offering condolences to the families of the victims. The crash was the latest in a string of air disasters in Iran mostly involving Russian-built aircraft. A Ukrainian An-140 aircraft flew into a mountainside on December 23, 2002, w hile preparing to land at an airport near the central city of Isfahan, killing all the estimated 46 scientists aboard. In February 2002, a Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 airliner, carrying 119 people, smashed into snow-covered mountains not far from its destination of Khorramabad, 230 miles southwest of Tehran. xponent Sincere Condolences Maru rob ________________________________ You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. And whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
