Sepahan and former Team Melli defender expressed his shock and regret at the aircraft crash that occurred this morning in the vicinity of Mehrabad airport in Tehran. The crash site is not very far from Azadi sport complex.

Aghili said “This aircraft and the crew on board was the same one that our team used last week on our trip to Tabriz. The crew of the flight was extremely  pleasant and we enjoyed their services, I am horrified and shocked to hear that it crashed near Mehrabad. I am speechless. All I can say is that I really feel sorry for the innocent victims  who lost  their lives when it came down. My deepest condolences to their families, it could have been us on broad of that aircraft.”

The Twin engine Turboprop  , Iran 140 , which is a local made version of the Ukrainian designed Antonov AN-140 crashed this morning, after departure from Mehrabad airport. Witnesses say that one of the engines was on fire and it crashed at high-speed in AzadiShar , a small residential community west of the airport. Meharabad is now the domestic airport of Tehran, while Imam Khomeini is the international airport. These type of aircraft are extensively used by football teams in their domestic travels.

Iran has a poor safety record in Civil Aviation . It has one of the highest fatality rates in Air accidents in Asia. Most of the problems are attributed to old equipment , poor maintenance and lack of spare parts , due to sanctions imposed by the Americans and European governments on Iran Civil Aviation.