A Saha Airlines Boeing 707-300 freighter, registration EP-CPP performing a freight flight from Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to Karaj (Iran) with 16 crew and a cargo of meat, was on approach to Karaj's Payam Airport's runway 30 (length 3660 meters/12,000 feet) when the crew descended towards and landed on Fath's airport 31L (official length 1070 meters/3510 feet), overran the runway, broke through an airport perimeter wall, crashed into houses past the end of the runway and burst into flames at about 08:30L (03:00Z). So far one survivor (the flight engineer) and 16 bodies have been recovered. One house was destroyed, a number of houses were damaged.
Another aircraft had confused the same airports but gone around in time, see
Incident: Taban MD88 at Karaj on Nov 16th 2018, went around from very low height at wrong airportAnother aircraft had confused the same airports but gone around in time, see
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On Jan 17th 2019 the flight engineer, only survivor of the crash, gave a TV interview from his hospital bed. The flight engineer stated, that the landing was entirely normal, however, at the wrong airport. He stated (translation from Persion to English by a native Persian reader of AVH): "We followed normal procedure, and landed normally. Then all of the sudden we found ourselves at the end of the runway. It all happened so fast that there was no time for any kind of reaction, not even a shout or comment. No one said or did anything as we were all shocked by the suddenness of what was happening. I didn't feel anything after that. I regained consciousness a while later and found myself sandwiched between two bodies with fire approaching from behind. I couldn't move as my clothes were entangled in metal scraps. I saw a youngster trying to help outside the aircraft and shouted. He heard me and helped me out".
On Jan 17th 2019 the flight engineer, only survivor of the crash, gave a TV interview from his hospital bed. The flight engineer stated, that the landing was entirely normal, however, at the wrong airport. He stated (translation from Persion to English by a native Persian reader of AVH): "We followed normal procedure, and landed normally. Then all of the sudden we found ourselves at the end of the runway. It all happened so fast that there was no time for any kind of reaction, not even a shout or comment. No one said or did anything as we were all shocked by the suddenness of what was happening. I didn't feel anything after that. I regained consciousness a while later and found myself sandwiched between two bodies with fire approaching from behind. I couldn't move as my clothes were entangled in metal scraps. I saw a youngster trying to help outside the aircraft and shouted. He heard me and helped me out".
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