Iran recovers black box of crashed Turkish plane

The black box of the private Turkish passenger jet that crashed in southwestern Iran Sunday was recovered on Monday, according to an Iranian official.

All 11 people aboard the aircraft are feared dead.

The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported earlier that the Istanbul-bound plane had taken off from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and crashed in Kiyar district of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.

Among the 11 were eight passengers and three crew members.

The crashed plane belonged to Hüseyin Başaran, owner of Başaran Holding -- one of Turkey's prominent companies involved in energy, food and tourism, finance and construction sectors.

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province's Emergency Management Organization Deputy Head Reza Zahiri told IRNA early Monday that rescue teams so far had recovered eight bodies. Two more bodies were found but their condition was too poor to be identified, Zahiri added.

He said the search for the remaining one passenger continues.

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province Deputy Governor Cafer Meydani told IRNA the black box of the crashed plane was found in Helen Mountains in Kiyar district.

Iranian Emergency Management Organization spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi said villagers had found the wreckage of the plane, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA).

Khaledi confirmed the plane had hit a mountain, adding that DNA tests would be needed to identify the bodies.

Kiyar District Governor Kademali Merdani earlier said 50 mountaineers were being sent to the area to provide help in the search-and-rescue operations, according to Iranian Tasnim news agency.

Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs, and Communications said in a statement late Sunday that a team from Turkey would go the crash site in Iran.

"The Accident Investigation and Inspection Board [of the ministry] and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency [AFAD] teams will go to the accident site with a plane assigned by the General Staff to investigate the accident," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry had identified the plane as a Canadair CL604, tail number TC-TRB. It also said the aircraft crashed shortly after making a call about an unspecified "technical failure".

The plane vanished from radar at around 1440 GMT Sunday after it took off at 1330 GMT, according to the Turkish ministry.