Iran's Transport Minister Dies in Plane Crash
KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: Iran's transport minister is dead after the plane he was traveling in crashed, killing all 29 people on board says the country's interior ministry. There were also several members of parliament onboard. For more details, we are joined on the line from Tehran by journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr. Shirzad, bring us up-to-date.</s>SHIRZRAD BOZORGMEHR, JOURNALIST: Well, Iran civil aviation authorities have not yet officially confirmed the news about the plane crash that reportedly killed 29 people aboard, including the transport minister and seven members of parliament. In a recent statement carried by Iran's news agency, Iranov (ph), they said the crash could not be confirmed, and the wreckage has not yet been sighted. The statement added that foreign news services reports are too premature, and should not be taken seriously at this stage. Those news agencies said the plane had gone down due to bad weather close to the Iran- Turkmenistan border, and they said that the minister of transport, Rahman Dadman, and seven members of parliament were onboard, as well as 12 other people and 10 crew members. The news services said that the plane had contacted air tower control and reported he had to either go back to capital or make an emergency landing. This is 10 minutes before reportedly it crashed. We are still waiting in Tehran to hear from the civil aviation authorities as to the final result of this incident.</s>SHINSHO: Are authorities telling you rescue efforts are still underway?</s>BOZORGMEHR: Search-and-rescue effort, yes, because they are saying we are not sure if it crashed or not, but we are trying in four or five different provinces close too each other to see it has gone down, but we have not found the plane crash, the plane yet, therefore, we cannot confirm it yet. As soon as we find it, we will confirm it, but as things stand now, we don't know if the plane has gone down or not. But reports from the foreign news agency said the plane carried only fuel for only three hour's flight, and it's been way past that three hours now.</s>SHINSHO: OK, Shirzad Bozorgmehr, from Tehran, thank you for that update. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com