UPDATE 3 - Private Turkish plane crashes in Iran

UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS FROM TURKISH TRANSPORT MARITIME AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATION MINISTRY

By Mustafa Melih Ahishali and Mehmet Tosun

ISTANBUL / ANKARA (AA) - A private Turkish aircraft, with 11 people on board, crashed in southwestern Iran, according to Iranian media reports.

The Istanbul-bound plane, which took off from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, was carrying eight passengers and three crew members, Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported.

The crash occurred in the Kiyar District of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.

Everyone on board reportedly died in the crash.

Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman for the Iranian Emergency Management Organization, said villagers found wreckage of the plane, the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) quoted him as saying.

He confirmed the plane hit a mountain, adding that DNA tests will be needed to identify the bodies.

Kiyar District Governor Kademali Merdani said 50 mountaineers will also be sent to the area to help the search and rescue operations, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.

**** Turkish Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs and Communications said in a statement that a team from Turkey would visit the accident site in Iran.

"The Accident Investigation and Inspection Board [of the ministry] and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) teams will go to the accident site with a plane assigned by the General Staff to investigate the accident," said the ministry in a statement.

The ministry identified the plane as a Canadair CL604, tail number TC-TRB. It also said the aircraft crashed shorty after making a call about "technical failure".

The jet was owned by the Turkish Basaran Holding, the statement added. *****

The plane vanished from radar around 1440 GMT after it took off at 1330 GMT, according to the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications.