DPA

Tehran, Jul 16: The remains of all 168 victims of a crashed Iranian passenger plane have been transferred to a coroner's office, the head of the rescue team Ahmad Majidi said Thursday.

Majidi told the Fars news agency that the remains collected by the Red Crescent after Wednesday's crash were taken initially to Qazvin in northwestern Iran but would be transferred later Thursday to the coroner's office in Tehran for identification.

According to local officials, identification would be a lengthy process.

The Tupelov-154 plane operated by Caspian Airlines with 153 passengers and 15 crew members aboard crashed at Janatabad village in Qazvin province.

No one on the ground was injured, but all the passengers were burned beyond recognition.

So far, two of the plane's three black boxes have been found, Majidi said, adding that investigations were under way to determine the cause of the crash.

According to Majidi, 161 of the 168 passengers were Iranian, including 10 members of the national junior judo team and Armenian-Iranian parliament deputy Leon Davidian. Among the foreigners, there were reportedly Armenians, Georgians and Australians.

A hotline was established for the families of the victims. Majidi said that some of them have already come to Qazvin to identify the bodies.

The accident was the ninth plane crash in the past six years in Iran.

Iran's air fleet, based mainly on US technology, has been one of Iran's industries hit by US and international sanctions, which have stopped the purchase of new models and spare parts.