2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash
Aerospace Force of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution Ilyushin Il-76MD · Controlled flight into terrain during descent in bad weather
From Zahedan International Airport (ZAH) to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani International Airport (KER)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 275 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 275
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Ilyushin Il-76MD
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-76
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 15-2280
- Onboard fatalities
- 275
- Route
- From Zahedan International Airport (ZAH)To Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani International Airport (KER)
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 19 February 2003, an Ilyushin Il-76 crashed in mountainous terrain near Kerman in Iran. The Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aircraft, registration, was flying from Zahedan to Kerman when it crashed 35 km southeast of Kerman. The aircraft was carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, a special force that is independent from the Iranian Army, on an unknown mission.
Strong winds were reported in the region of the crash when the aircraft disappeared from radar; around the same time, villagers in the area described hearing a loud explosion. There were no survivors among the 275 occupants on board the aircraft. As of 2026, the crash remains the second deadliest on Iranian soil (behind Iran Air Flight 655) and the deadliest crash of an Il-76.
Accident
The Il-76 was flying a route from Zahedan Airport to Kerman Airport carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on an unspecified mission. The four-engine Russian transport aircraft lost contact with air traffic control at 5:30 pm after flying into poor weather conditions.
The aircraft crashed into the Sirch mountains, southeast of Kerman, about 500 mi southeast of Tehran, killing all aboard.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash” (revision 1359177064, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash
- Revision
- 1359177064 · 2026-06-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q2822710
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash" (page 20249399, revision 1359177064)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.