CASPIAN AIRLINES DENIES TRANSPORT OF AMMUNITION ON ILL-FATED FLIGHT
Asbarez
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Aug 3, 2009
TEHRAN-The Yerevan office of the Iranian carrier Caspian Airlines
Monday denied that the ill-fated flight from Tehran to Yerevan that
crashed on July 15 had weapons and ammunition on board.
The Italian "Corriere della sera" newspaper reported that weapons
and ammunition were on board the flight and were intended for ground
transport from Armenia to Hezbollah factions in Syria and Lebanon.
The newspaper reported that the crash resulted from the explosion of
the ammunition and was part of a covert operation by Iran’s government
to supply weapons to Hezbollah.
The head of flight security at Armenia’s Civilian Aviation
Administration, Serob Karapetyan, ruled out those reports.
"We do not have such information. There are no grounds for it, he
said. "The dissemination of such information is an unfriendly step
with regard to Armenia."
Karapetyan added that according to the Interstate Aviation Committee,
the crash was caused by an engine fire.
Caspian Airlines officials, meanwhile, insisted that the decoding of
the downed plane’s "black boxes" was still under way.