Two of the three black-box recorders from a Tupolev aircraft that crashed shortly after takeoff on Wednesday while operating a Tehran-Yerevan flight have been recovered, reported Iranian authorities.
The Russian-made passenger plane hit the ground outside the northwestern Iranian city of Qazvin, killing all 153 passengers and 15 crew members on board. It reportedly burst into flames and scattered metal fragments and body parts across neighboring fields.
Iran’s state Press TV quoted an official as saying the recovered boxes were heavily damaged in the crash but that experts were trying to retrieve vital data from them that would help determine the cause of the crash.
Meanwhile, authorities in Yerevan organized overnight work at Zvartnots, the destination airport for the crashed passenger plane.
Chief of the Armenian civil aviation authority Artyom Movsisyan said at a government meeting on Thursday that the main work was connected with the verification of victims’ lists.
A plane from Iran was to arrive at the Yerevan airport to transport about 50 relatives of victims who wished to go to Tehran later in the afternoon.
Caspian Airlines that owned the aircraft and operated the flight will cover all expenses connected with the transportation and stay of the families in Iran.
Movsisian said representatives of the Armenian civil aviation authority would accompany the members of victims’ families and in Tehran they would be joined by Armenian embassy workers.
Movsisian said the names of all passengers on board the crashed plane have now been verified. Among them, he said, 36 were Armenians; of them, three passengers and two crew members were citizens of the Republic of Armenia; and one of the four killed children was also an Armenian.
Meanwhile, a Caspian Airlines representative in Yerevan said the families of every passenger would receive a compensation of 32,000 euros (about $45,000).
“The compensations will be paid to the families of victims… Regardless of what nationality they were, all will receive this compensation,” Bella Gevorgian told RFE/RL.
Today, July 16, is declared a day of mourning in Armenia.
Iran’s state Press TV quoted an official as saying the recovered boxes were heavily damaged in the crash but that experts were trying to retrieve vital data from them that would help determine the cause of the crash.
Meanwhile, authorities in Yerevan organized overnight work at Zvartnots, the destination airport for the crashed passenger plane.
Chief of the Armenian civil aviation authority Artyom Movsisyan said at a government meeting on Thursday that the main work was connected with the verification of victims’ lists.
A plane from Iran was to arrive at the Yerevan airport to transport about 50 relatives of victims who wished to go to Tehran later in the afternoon.
Caspian Airlines that owned the aircraft and operated the flight will cover all expenses connected with the transportation and stay of the families in Iran.
Movsisian said representatives of the Armenian civil aviation authority would accompany the members of victims’ families and in Tehran they would be joined by Armenian embassy workers.
Movsisian said the names of all passengers on board the crashed plane have now been verified. Among them, he said, 36 were Armenians; of them, three passengers and two crew members were citizens of the Republic of Armenia; and one of the four killed children was also an Armenian.
Meanwhile, a Caspian Airlines representative in Yerevan said the families of every passenger would receive a compensation of 32,000 euros (about $45,000).
“The compensations will be paid to the families of victims… Regardless of what nationality they were, all will receive this compensation,” Bella Gevorgian told RFE/RL.
Today, July 16, is declared a day of mourning in Armenia.