South Azerbaijan Human Rights Watch
sahrw@hotmail.co.uk
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
999 University Street
Montréal,
Quebec
H3C 5H7
Canada
12 January 2011
Dear Sir/Madam,
May I draw your kind attention to the fact that gross negligence of Iranian Aviation Authorities once again has taken heavy toll this time in Urmia area of Southern Azerbaijan ( North Western Iran). A Boeing 727 flight number 277of Iran Air crashed by Urmia Lake , killed 77 and injured 33.
Although this particular airplane has been banned by EU aviation authorities to land on EU airports,- simply because of high risk of crash- Iran Air was still using it for domestic flights and possibly non EU countries. Based on information from various sources this particular flight was delayed for two hours as a result of a technical problem before taking off from Tehran.
Victims of Air crashes in Iran neither receive descent compensation nor being informed of real cause of the crash. There is no independent body to file a complaint against those responsible and oblige Iranian authorities to improve safety.
Iran has one of the highest crash per airplane in the area. Iran Air and other Iranian passenger flight operators should be banned from operating internationally until safety of all planes are verified.
Chairman of SAHRW