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An Aseman Airlines aircraft has crashed in Iran's Zagros Mountains as it was flying from Tehran to the southwest city of Yasuj.
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The airline fears all 66 people on board, including passengers, two security guards, two flight attendants, the pilot and the co-pilot, are dead.
The EP3704 flight left Tehran at 7:55 a.m. local time and crashed 50 minutes later in Dena Mountain, just 22 kilometers from its destination.
Bad weather forced an emergency helicopter investigating the crash to turn back. Now, 20 emergency and rescue teams, including the Iranian Red Crescent, are trying to get to the crash site by land, but difficult access is preventing them from reaching it anytime soon to confirm if there are any survivors left.
The French-Italian twin-engine turboprop ATR 72-500 was 25 years old and was used for short distance regional flights.
Iranian airlines have an aging fleet due to ongoing sanctions on the country, struggling to obtain spare and replacement parts. The latest plane crash in Iran was in 2014, when an Antonov aircraft crashed shortly after take-off, killing 39 people. Other air accidents in 2009 and 2011 killed 168 and 78 respectively.
Recent developments, such as the 2015 U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement, have lifted some of the sanctions, allowing for airlines to buy new planes. Last year, Aseman signed a contract with Boeing to buy 30 of its 737s.
Local media outlets have reported that the aircraft had previous technical problems and had just resumed flying last October after seven years on the ground. It was also reported that it undertook an emergency landing on Jan. 25.
The airline, however, claims the accident was provoked by bad weather.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, expressed his condolences to the victims' families.
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