Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – An Iranian military aircraft has crashed into a mountain range, near the inactive Sabalan volcano, in the country’s northwestern Ardabil Province, state media reported on December 25.
Rescue teams have been dispatched to the area of the crash to search for survivors and debris, the IRNA news agency reported, quoting local officials.
Due to poor weather, a rescue team from the Iranian Red Crescent has not yet been able to find the wreckage, a spokesman for the provincial governorate told IRNA.
There have been no immediate reports of casualties in the incident or of the number of people onboard.
The fighter jet was a Russian-made MiG-29.
The pilot was test flying the recently overhauled plane and had taken off from the Tabriz air base earlier in the day.
Iran’s air force has an assortment of U.S.-made military aircraft — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution — as well as Russian-made MiG and Sukhoi planes.
Decades of Western sanctions have made it hard for Iran to maintain its aging fleet.
