MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Tehran has expressed its gratitude to the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations for its assistance in pinpointing the crash scene of an ATR-72 passenger plane. In addition, Iran has requested more detailed satellite images of the site, the ministry’s press service told TASS on Monday.

"The Iranian authorities have expressed (their) gratitude to the emergencies ministry for spotting the scene where the ATR-72 crashed. However, since weather conditions were adverse in the presumed crash scene, whose satellite images were presented on Sunday at Iran’s request, the Iranian side has asked the Russian emergencies ministry for more detailed satellite data from the site," a ministry source said.

On Sunday, Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov received a request from the Iranian government to help locate the terrestrial coordinates of the crash site by using satellite monitoring. "More detailed space images of the presumed scene of the plane crash will be handed over to Iran shortly," the source said.

On Monday, the IRNA news agency reported citing Ahmad Jafar Gohargani, the deputy governor of the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province that plane wreckage had been found near the city of Semirom in the Isfahan Province. Later, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development did not confirm the information about the discovered wreckage.

An Iranian ATR 72-600 passenger plane operated by Aseman Airlines and bound for the Iranian city of Yasuj disappeared from radars 50 minutes after taking off from Teheran on Sunday morning. The plane crashed near Mount Dena within the Zagros Mountains in central Iran’s Isfahan Province some 500 kilometers from Teheran and 25 kilometers just before its destination.

The Tasnim news agency said referring to the air carrier’s director that there were no survivors of the crash. However, Aseman Airlines spokesman Mohammad Tabatabai said it was premature to declare all the people on board dead, since bad weather conditions were hampering the search for any possible survivors.

There were 60 passengers and six members of the crew aboard the plane.