MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Iran's president over the mass deaths in a plane crash above Tehran, a message published on the Kremlin website said Sunday.
"Accept my sincere condolences over the crash of a passenger plane over Tehran and the numerous human casualties. I ask that my words of sympathy and support be passed to those who lost their family and friends in the catastrophe," Putin said in the telegram.
The turboprop Iranian plane, Iran-140, a modification of Russian An-140, owned by one of the local airlines, was en route from Tehran to the city of Tabas in eastern Iran when it crashed early Sunday almost immediately after the takeoff near the international airport in the western part of Iranian capital.
Earlier reports suggested the engine shutdown could have caused the crash that killed 39 people. Nine people have survived.
