TEHRAN, Iran – An Iranian passenger plane made an emergency landing on Thursday after one of its engines was detached in the air and fell off in the suburban capital Tehran, official IRNA news agency reported.
The plane, a Boeing 747, which is operated by Iran Mahan Airlines, took off from Tehran to southern port city of Bandar Abbas at 7:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT), but one of its engines failed to function after one minute, Farmarz Sarvi, the official in the airlines told IRNA.
“The plane, with nearly 400 passengers, had to make an emergency landing with its passengers safe and sound,” Sarvi said, adding that the passengers flew to Bandar Abbas with another flight.
The detached engine and its broken parts fell off in Eslamshahr district of Tehran, IRNA reported posting images of the crushed engine and its parts.
Iran has seen several air disasters involving both civil and military use aircraft in recent years.
Experts said the U.S.-imposed sanctions against Iran, which prevented its allies from selling aircraft or aircraft parts to the country, have undermined safety standards within Iran’s civil and military aviation fleet with the likelihood of further air disasters.
