ORUMIYEH, Iran, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A jetliner crashed during a snowstorm in northwestern Iran Sunday, killing at least 72 people, officials said.
The BBC reported rescuers said about 35 others were injured when the IranAir 727 went down while trying to reach the airport at Orumiyeh while on a flight from Tehran.
The British network said Iranian officials said the aircraft broke into several pieces when it crashed after experiencing some sort of technical failure, apparently while making a second attempt at landing at the airport.
One official told the BBC the rescue operation was being hampered by snow and fog.
Orumiyeh is 460 miles northwest of Tehran.
Sky News reported Mahmoud Mozafar, head of Iran's Red Crescent, said "the plane was smashed into pieces but did not explode."
The semiofficial Fars news agency initially had quoted the head of the State Emergency Center, Gholam Reza Masoumi, as saying 50 people had survived with injuries.
"There were 105 people on board; 94 of them were passengers, including two children," Shahrokh Nioushabadi, a spokesman for IranAir, told the Mehr news agency.
The plane had taken off from Mehrabad Airport in Tehran after a one-hour delay.
