Lightning blamed for Iran plane crash

Lightning may have caused a plane carrying Iran's transport minister to crash two days ago, killing all on board, say officials in Tehran.

Search parties confirmed the deaths of Rahman Dadman and about 30 others after they located the wreckage of the aircraft near the northern city of Sari on Friday.

Civil aviation chief Behzad Mazaheri told national television that a preliminary investigation suggested the aircraft may have lost its navigation system after being struck by lightning.

Dadman was known as an influential reformist

Search teams have meanwhile found the black box, or flight recorder, which it is hoped will provide further clues to the disaster.

The bodies of the victims, who included seven members of parliament, are being taken to Tehran for a mass funeral on Sunday.

The weekend has been declared a time of national mourning.

The Russian-built Yak-40 disappeared from radar screens in bad weather on Thursday morning after the pilot radioed to say he would attempt an emergency landing at Sari.

It crashed near the village of Khartshang, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Sari in Mazandaran province.

More than 1,000 troops scoured forests in the area for the wreck. Rain and fog prevented the use of helicopters, the official news agency Irna reported.

Mobile clue

At one stage it was thought the plane might have crashed more than 500 km to the west in the Elburz Mountains.

The actual crash site was eventually found thanks to mobile telephones.

"We called the mobile telephone of one of the passengers and it rang, allowing us to locate the aircraft," Iranian radio quoted the man leading the search as saying.

Mr Dadman was appointed to the cabinet in January in a cabinet reshuffle; correspondents said he was an influential reformist politician close to President Mohammad Khatami.

He had been due to attend the inauguration of a new city airport at Gorgan near the Caspian Sea.

As well as claiming the lives of his two deputy ministers, the crash could leave the entire north-eastern region unrepresented in parliament.

All seven MPs on board were from there.