Armenian News

The Times July 16, 2009168 killed as passenger jet crashes in Iran(ISNA/EPA)The plane crashed and exploded in farmland 75 miles northwest
of TehranCharles Bremner A Russian-made Iranian airliner crashed and exploded in farmland
75 miles northwest of Tehran today, killing all 168 people aboard,
after an apparent engine fire.
The Tupolev 154M of Caspian Airlines came down near the city of
Qazvin about 15 minutes into the flight bound for Yerevan, Armenia.
The crash was the third involving an Iranian Tu154 in seven years. People on the ground said that the Caspian jet, a later version of
the medium-range Soviet workhorse of the 1970s, descended with
fire coming from one of its three tail-mounted engines. The pilots
appeared to be looking for a landing spot and had lowered the
undercarriage when it suddenly plunged, gouging a long trench,
and exploded.
“I saw it when it was just above the ground. Its wheels were out and
there was fire blazing from the lower parts,” said Ablolfazl Idaji. The crew did not have time to report their predicament to air traffic
control, Iranian authorities said.
Among the 153 passengers and 15 crew were eight members of
Iran’s national youth judo team.
Relatives and friends gathered at Yerevan airport, where a notice
on a wall listed the names of those who were on board. Iran is home
to thousands of ethnic Armenians. Six Armenian citizens and two
Georgians were on the flight. The others were Iranian nationals,
about 30 of them of Armenian origin, officials said. President Ahmadinejad issued a statement expressing condolences
for the deaths and urging a swift investigation of the cause. Tehran blames US sanctions for the many crashes that have afflicted
its civilian and military aircraft over recent decades. Caspian Airlines
is an Iranian-Russian joint venture, however, founded in 1993, which
uses only Tupolev 154s. Their maintenance is not affected by the US
embargo — but ageing Russian jets suffer from widespread use of
bogus spare parts bought on the black market for a fraction of the
cost of genuine ones.
There was no immediate indication of what went wrong aboard the
Tupolev, which would have been nearing its cruising altitude on its
way to Yerevan, but the flight recorders are likely to be retrieved and
should shed light on the question. The long trench at the crash scene
suggested that the aircraft did not fall vertically but was still in forward
motion when it came down, possibly in an aerodynamic stall. The crash is the third major air disaster in the past seven weeks,
after an Air France Airbus went down over the Atlantic near Brazil
on June 1, killing 228 people, and a Yemenia Airlines Airbus crashed
off the Comoros Islands on June 30, with 152 deaths.


RFE/RL Report
Tehran-Yerevan Passenger Plane Crashes in Iran15.07.2009Astghik Bedevian, Elina Chilingarian, Hrach MelkumianA Tupolev plane operating a Caspian Airlines commercial flight from Tehran to Yerevan crashed on Wednesday in northwest Iran, near the city of Qazvin.The Caspian Airlines office in Yerevan told RFE/RL that all 153 passengers and 15 crew on board the plane were killed. The identities of the plane's passengers and crew are being verified.According to the same source, two of the crew members were Armenians - technicians Suren Soghomonian and Grigor Barseghian.Iranian-Armenian journalist Vardan Davtian told RFE/RL from Tehran that `at 11:33 in the morning, a plane belonging to Caspian Airline operating flight 7908, with 153 passengers and 15 crew members on board, crashed near Qazvin 16 minutes after its takeoff and unfortunately all passengers, as is reported, are not alive, there is no hope that any of the passengers would survive.'According to Davtian, there is not yet information about passengers, but `generally many Armenians fly Tehran-Yerevan.'The Iranian-Armenian journalist said nothing was yet known about the possible cause of the crash.Later, Davtian told RFE/RL that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed his condolences to the families and relatives of the dead. He set up a special group to discuss the causes of the crash and instructed that results be reported immediately to him.The Iranian-Armenian journalist said that according to unofficial reports, fire broke out inside the plane before it crashed. He stressed that no official information was available yet.Davtian reported a large number of cars and a lot of noise on the highway leading to Tehran's International Imam Khomeini Airport.Iranian Press TV reports that members of Iran's Junior Judo squad -- eight athletes and two coaches -- were among those killed in the crash.A spokesperson for the Armenian government-affiliated Head Department of Civil Aviation said to RFE/RL: `According to the information we have, a Tu-154 plane en route from Tehran to Yerevan and carrying 153 passengers and 15 crew members, suffered a crash at 12.09 pm, 16 minutes after takeoff.'Nelli Cherchinian also said information on the number of deaths was being verified.The spokesperson also said a working group had been set up at the department to clarify the circumstances of the crash.The press office of the president of Armenia reports that President Serzh Sarkisian cut short his working visit to the Shirak province in Armenia over the Tehran-Yerevan plane crash and returned to capital Yerevan.A hotline was set up at the Foreign Ministry of Armenia for information on the crash. Inquiries can be made by calling on +37410562543, +37410566811 and +37410544041 (ext. 202 or 217).


LIST OF PASSENGERS OF TU-154 PUBLISHED/PanARMENIAN.Net/15.07.2009 16:01 GMT+04:00/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The list of passengers of Tu-154 which crashed nearKazmir town today has been published. 154 passengers, including 2children, were on board.40 out of 154 passengers were Armenian citizens. The crew consistedof Armenians and Iranians.A relief center is functioning in Zvartnots Airport
ONE OF ISTANBUL STREETS LIKELY TO BE NAMED AFTER
HRANT DINKNoyan TapanJuly 14, 2009ISTANBUL, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The street in thedistrict of Sisli, Istanbul, which is adjacent to the place of HrantDink's murder, is likely to be named after Hrant Dink. According tonews.am, a meeting of the Sisli Municipal Council was convened on July8 during which a decision was made to rename the street named Safakafter Hrant Dink. All the Council members present at the meeting werefor that proposal.It is mentioned that this decision is not final yet. The decision ofthe Sisli Municipal Council must also be affirmed by the IstanbulMunicioal Council. If the decision is affirmed here, the name ofthe street will be changed and if the Istanbul Municipal Councildecides not to rename the street after Hrant Dink, then we must waitfor the issue is again put to the vote at the Istanbul MunicipalCouncil. According to the law if the Istanbul Municipality declinesthe proposal of renaming three times, the final decision will be madeby the Sisli Municipal Council.
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