Up to 77 dead in Iran plane crash as toll rises

Iranian authorities are updating the death toll in a plane crash in northwest Iran to say at least 72 passengers and as many as 77 have died.

Iranian authorities are updating the death toll in a plane crash in northwest Iran to say at least 72 passengers and as many as 77 have died.

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A provincial official, Javad Mahmoudi, said Monday that 77 people died when the Iranian national airlines jet crashed during an emergency landing in a snowstorm.

He says 27 were injured, some critically.

But Iran's Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani says there were 105 people aboard, including 2 children. He says 72 died and 33 were lightly hurt.

After the crash on Sunday night, authorities said 106 people were on board and 71 died.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately explained. State-run TV says the plane went down in the northwest city of Orumiyeh after reporting a technical failure.