It was the nation's second deadly plane accident in as many weeks. The Aria Airlines flight 1525 from Tehran, Iran, slid off the runway during an emergency landing at Mashhad, Iran's second city, state media reported. Rescue workers ferried the injured to local hospitals as firefighters extinguished the flames. A photograph of the crash site showed the front end of the plane sheered off by the impact of the crash. Ali Ikhani, the new chief of the Civil Aviation Organization, told state television the plane struck a wall after it skidded off the runway. 'The impact of the landing pushed the plane off the runway,' one survivor, who was identified only as Jaffari, told the semi-official Fars news agency. News agencies reported that at least 13 passengers and three crew members were killed and that 21 people were injured. About 160 passengers plus the crew were aboard, state television reported. Among the dead was Capt. Mehdi Dadpei, the airlines' managing director, IRNA said. Officials said the jet was a Russian-made lyushin 62M. The director of public relations at Mashhad's airport told state television the plane skidded off the runway after it experienced 'technical glitches.' On July 15, Iran's Caspian Airways flight 7908, a Russian-made Tupolev, crashed 16 minutes after taking off from Tehran en route to the Armenian capital of Yerevan, killing all 168 passengers and crew. Both crashes highlight what experts describe as the dilapidated state of Iran's civil aviation industry, which remains under sanctions that prevent it from buying new Western-made aircraft. Western countries have offered to lift the sanctions if Iran curtails its nuclear enrichment program, a proposal Iranian leaders have dismissed. But other analysts say Iran could upgrade its fleet by opening its wallet to purchase newer, safer Russian-made planes. Fars reported Friday that the chief of the national airline company has penned a deal to buy 400 more Russian-made Tupolev aircraft. 