Tehran, Iran (AP) — An Iranian airplane brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years crashed Sunday in a foggy, mountainous region of southern Iran, and officials feared all 65 people on board were killed. The airline initially said everyone had been killed, but said later: "Given the special circumstances of the region, we still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers of this plane." The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near its destination of the southern city of Yasuj, some 780 kilometers (485 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, where it took off. Earlier reports said 66 people had died in the crash, but one would-be passenger did not board the flight, Aseman Airlines confirmed Sunday. Operated by Iranian carrier Aseman Airlines, the plane crashed near the town of Semirom after taking off from Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, news agency ISNA quoted emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi as saying. Rescue helicopters were unable to land at the probable crash site because of heavy fog, and emergency workers were searching the mountainous area by land, the television report said. Media reports said the plane disappeared from radar screens 50 minutes after taking off from Mehrabad airport in the south-west of the capital. Aircraft had been 'grounded' for seven years

Aseman Airlines, owned by Iran's civil service pension foundation, is a semi-private air carrier headquartered in Tehran and specialises in flights to remote airfields across the country. Based in the southern French city of Toulouse, ATR is a joint venture between Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo

Earlier air disasters include the crash of a Boeing 727 passenger plane in 2011 which killed 78 people in the northwest of Iran, and the 2009 crash of a Caspian Airlines Tupolev aircraft bound for Armenia which killed all 168 people on board. Following the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed deals with both Airbus and Boeing to buy scores of passenger planes worth tens of billions of dollars. Chicago-based Boeing also signed a $3 billion ($3.79 billion) deal that month to sell 30 737 MAX aircraft to Aseman Airlines. Iran has suffered several aviation accidents in recent years and has an ageing aircraft fleet.
An Iran Aseman Airlines ATR 72 commercial aircraft carrying 59 passengers and 6 crew members crashes near the Iranian town of Semirom. The airline reports that there are no survivors.