At least 77 killed in Iranian jet crash

At least 77 people were killed in Sunday's crash of a passenger plane in Iran's northwestern province of Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Reuters reported citing a recent news release by the official IRNA news agency.

Previous reports had put the death toll at 70, but the number had been expected to rise.

The Iran Air Boeing 727 with 106 on board crashed while attempting to land in bad weather in the city of Urumiyeh, located in a mountainous area near the border with Turkey, about 1,000 km (625 miles) northwest of the capital Tehran.

"Unfortunately, we lost 77 of our citizens and 27 others were injured," local official Nosrat Mollazadeh was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered an accelerated investigation while IRNA reported the plane's black box flight recorder had been found.

"The government has announced three days of mourning in the province," IRNA said.

State television showed the wreckage of the plane, which appeared to have broken into several sections on impact. Huge gaps were torn in the fuselage, parts of which were open to the night air as snow fell.