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With agency reports
A wealthy Turkish socialite, Mina Basaran, and seven of her friends perished on Sunday when a private plane bringing them home from a Dubai bachelorette party crashed into an Iranian mountainside.
The plane which belonged to the private holding company of Turkish businessman, Huseyin Basaran, was carrying eight passengers and three crew members, according to an official for Turkey’s transport ministry said.
Mina’s wedding was billed to hold next month.
The last photo on Mina Barasan’s Instagram account showed her surrounded by seven other young women, all wearing robes and sunglasses.
The post, tagged: #minasbachelorette, said it was taken at the One and Only Royal Mirage luxury hotel in Dubai.
“The wreck of the jet and the bodies are found. They will be carried down from the mountain when sun comes up. My condolences to those who lost their loved ones,” the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Kerem Kinik, said on Twitter, citing his Iranian sister organisation.
Reza Jafarzadeh, spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told state television the jet had crashed near the southwestern city of Shahr-e Kord.
Local residents who had reached the site of the crash said there appeared to be no survivors and victims’ bodies were burnt, ISNA news agency reported, quoting Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for Iran’s emergency services.
ISNA earlier quoted emergency services as saying the wreckage was burning and was clearly visible.
Emergency crews had a difficult approach to reach the crash site because of the mountainous terrain, ISNA said.