Plane crash-lands in Iran; 46 injured

A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane carrying 157 passengers and 13 crew crash landed in northeastern Iran today injuring at least 46 people, state television reported.

The broadcast said no one was killed in the accident.

The TV said the private Taban Air plane caught fire upon landing at Mashhad airport at 07.20 local time (03:40 GMT). The injured have been taken to hospitals in Mashhad, the report added. It said plane has been seriously damaged.

Iran has about a dozen Soviet-built Tu-154 airliners.

Iran has seen numerous crashes in recent years and its airlines have been plagued by maintenance problems. In part, Iranian carriers are chronically cashed-strapped and unable to buy new planes.

Iranian officials often blame US sanctions that prevent it from updating American aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic revolution and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well.

US sanctions prevent Iran from updating its 30-year-old American aircraft and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well. The country has come to rely on Russian aircraft, many of them Soviet-era planes that are harder to get parts for since the fall of the Soviet Union.