ASTANA, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - The fatal crash of an Il-62 airliner in Iran last week occurred because the plane was traveling too fast when it touched down, Kazakhstan's Transportation Ministry said on Monday.
"According to Iranian civil aviation authorities, the landing in the middle of the runway with excessive landing speed caused the crash," the ministry said in a statement.
At least 17 people were killed and over 30 injured as the Aria Air Il-62M passenger jet with 160 people on board skidded off the runway during landing in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Friday.
The plane's tires caught fire on landing and it skidded into a wall. The cockpit and the front part of the fuselage were completely destroyed in the crash.
Earlier Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said all five crew, Kazakh nationals, died in the crash. The Russian Foreign Ministry reported three Russians killed and one injured.
The 10-year-old plane owned by Kazakh D.E.T.A. Air was leased to the Iranian Aria Air in July 2008.
Another plane, a Tu-154 of Iran's Caspian Airlines, crashed on July 15 in northern Iran en route from Tehran to Yerevan, killing all 153 passengers and 15 crew onboard.
