11 killed as Turkish jet carrying hen party crashes in Iran

TEHRAN: Eleven women died when a private plane crashed in Iran while flying the daughter of a prominent Turkish businessman and her friends home from a hen party, officials and media reports said on Monday.

The Bombardier Challenger 604, carrying Mina Basaran and seven of her friends from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul, went down in south western Iran on Sunday. Three crew, all women, were also on board.

Iran´s Civil Aviation Organisation said the plane crashed at 6:09 pm (1439 GMT) on Sunday after the pilot had asked to descend due to a "technical problem". The business jet went down in the Zagros mountains, about 400 kilometres south of Tehran. The aviation agency said six of the eight passengers were Turkish citizens and the other two Spanish. Iranian news agency ISNA reported that the bodies of all 11 on board had been found by rescue teams. The remains were being brought down from the mountainside by helicopter to the Shahr-e Kord airport in the local provincial capital.

IRNA, another Iranian news agency, reported that a group of those close to the victims had arrived at Shahr-e Kord, accompanied by a Turkish diplomat. It said all the bodies had been identified except two, which were badly burned. The Turkish army said it had sent a plane and emergency personnel to Iran to assist in salvage efforts.