Plane Flying For Revolutionary Guard

A Russian Antonov-74 (file photo of type, below) belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) crashed during takeoff Monday from Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, killing at least 30 IRGC members and six crewmembers.

Local media reports say two survivors were pulled from the wreckage and taken to a nearby hospital. State television says one of those passengers later died from his injuries.

It is unclear what may have brought the aircraft down. ABC News reports a police officer told the state-run ISNA news agency one of the plane's engines failed due to "technical problems" when it was still on the runway, causing it to veer, hit an obstacle and explode.

IRGC Commander-In-Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi earlier stated the crash may have been the work of saboteurs -- comments he later denied.

"I see the possibility of any kind of sabotage in this accident as weak, and if I have been quoted in that regard I deny it now," Safavi later told IRNA and Fars News Agency.

The aircraft was heading to the southern Iranian city of Shiraz on a military mission, according to a statement by the IRGC.

The accident is the third fatal aircraft crash this year in the Islamic state. As Aero-News reported in September, an Iran Air Tour Tupolev 154 caught fire after landing in Mashhad, killing 28 people. In January, 13 military officers onboard a Dassault Falcon 20 were killed in a failed emergency landing attempt.

In December 2005, a military C-130 transport went down shortly after takeoff from Mehrabad airport, impacting a residential building and resulting in the deaths of 115 people. Many of those fatalities were journalists who had been onboard the aircraft, heading to report on military training exercises.

Denied access to spare parts and newer aircraft by US and international sanctions, Iran has increasingly supplemented both its civilian and military fleets with planes from the former Soviet Union.

FMI: www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/pasdaran.htm