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43 killed in Sharjah air crash

Officials at the Sharjah Airport have confirmed that 43 people have died in the Kish airlines Flight-7170 crash in the Al Ramaqia area in Sharjah on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference, Dr. Ghanem Al Hajri, Director General, Department of Civil Aviation and Sharjah Airport Authority, said that the cause of the air crash was a technical error and that air traffic control reports of that time gave no indication that the plane was in any trouble.

"The plane was in the final stage of landing and was cleared by our airport officials to land. Air traffic communication of that time does not suggest that the plane was in any trouble and the pilot did not send us any emergency signal to indicate a problem," said Dr. Al Hajri.

40 passengers of various nationalities including an infant and 6 crew members of Iranian origin were onboard the 50-seater plane which crashed at approximately 11:40 am local time. Officials were also quick to point out that the crash was not an act of terrorism and in most probability, suffered from a technical fault.

"So far, there is no indication to support the idea that the plane was sabotaged and that this was an act of terrorism. A full investigation will take place to determine what exactly went wrong and this may take at least a few months," said Mohammed Al Gaith, Director General, General Civil Aviation Authority.

Officials have also recovered the plane's black box as well as a voice recorder which, they say, will shed more light on the cause of the crash. The aircraft belonged to Kish airlines and was of Dutch make

"This particular plane, which was a Fokker-50, was used for short-haul flights and was in excellent condition. An Iranian delegation will aid us in our investigation and we hope to find some answers very soon," said Mr. Al Gaith.