Plane Crash in Tehran Kills 115

Most Passengers On Military Craft Were Journalists

TEHRAN, Dec. 6 -- A military cargo plane attempting an emergency landing Tuesday in Tehran clipped an apartment building and crashed short of the runway, killing at least 115 people, including 21 on the ground, Iranian officials said.

Authorities said all 84 passengers and 10 crew members died on the U.S.-built C-130 aircraft. Most of the passengers were Iranian journalists en route to cover military maneuvers in southern Iran.

The other victims perished in apartments that were engulfed in flames or in cars near the base of the 10-story building.

"There were four apartments on each floor. Thirty-six apartments burned completely," Amir Rasouli, 24, said tearfully at Hazrat Rasoul Akram Hospital, where he learned his cousin was among the dead. "They managed to evacuate most of the residents, but my cousin was not lucky enough."

Iranian news agencies said the pilot reported engine trouble shortly after taking off in the early afternoon from Mehrabad International Airport in southwestern Tehran. The aircraft was circling back for an emergency landing when its wing struck the building in the Towhid complex, one of many medium-rise concrete residential buildings adjacent to the airport.

The complex was reserved for military families, many of whom were home at the time.

"I was in my room when I heard a terrible explosion from the block next to us," said Mitra Aslani, 16, who like all students in Tehran stayed home from school on Tuesday because of an air pollution alert.

"Then there was fire on that block," she said.

State news agencies said police at the scene found several children among the dead. "Some people were throwing themselves out of windows to escape the flames. I saw two die like that," one policeman told the Reuters news agency.

Maysam Kamrava, whose leg was broken during the crush of people rushing out of the burning building, was among about 90 people injured in the incident.

"He is all right, but only God knows how shocked we are," said his mother, Manijeh Kamrava, 29, in the crowded emergency room at Hazrat Rasoul. "I heard a terrible explosion, and after a few seconds I heard people shouting, 'Fire!' We rushed to the stairs, which were packed with smoke. I lost my son, Maysam. A few minutes later the firemen came and helped us out of the building."

Rescue crews and bystanders carried away the wounded in blankets, but riot police forced back distraught neighbors and relatives who tried to push past an iron gate to look for survivors.