Iranian plane catches fire, killing 80: TV

Tehran, Sep 1: A passenger plane caught fire on landing at an airport in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad today, killing at least 80 people, state television reported.

''The flight had 147 passengers, some 80 of whom died in the fire,'' state television reported. Reports previously said 60 people had been killed.

The plane, a Russian-built Tupolev, caught fire at 1.45 p.m.

(1015 GMT). A Mashhad airport official told state television it had slipped off the side of the runway while landing, and subsequently caught fire.

Air safety experts say Iran has a poor safety record with a string of crashes in the recent decades, many involving Russian-made aircraft.

U S sanctions on the Islamic state have prevented it from buying new aircraft or spares from the West, forcing it to supplement its aging fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes with aircraft from the former Soviet Union.

Reuters