Thousands mourn Iran crash victims
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Relatives surround coffins of the crash victims in Tehran.
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Thousands of people attended public funerals in two Iranian cities Thursday for the elite troops killed in a plane crash last week, state-run Tehran radio reported.
In Kerman, southeastern Iran, where the plane crashed on February 19, thousands of mourners dressed in black joined Cabinet ministers, top military brass and family members to remember the 275 who died.
In the capital of Tehran, 10 coffins were carried on a truck before burial. Many friends and family members wept and some fainted.
All those on board the plane were members of the Revolutionary Guards, an elite group under the direct control of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who protect Iran's borders and defend ruling hard-liners in this ultraconservative society.
In Kerman, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani paid tribute to the militia force.
"The guards have always served to protect the country's security. They were the pioneers in confronting counterrevolutionaries and defusing blind riots in the country," the radio quoted Rafsanjani as saying during the funeral service in Kerman.
Rescue teams work at crash site.
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All the victims' remains were recovered, and search operations ended Wednesday. One of the plane's black boxes had been found and was sent to Tehran for decoding and analysis.
The Russian-made Ilyushin-76 crashed into a mountainside in bad weather about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from its destination, killing all the 275 aboard.
Officials revised the death toll after learning that not all those on the flight list boarded the plane. Earlier reports said 302 people were killed.
With the death toll revised, the deadliest plane crash in Iranian history remains the 290 killed on July 3, 1988, when an Iran Air A300 Airbus was shot down over the Gulf by the USS Vincennes. The U.S. military said it misidentified the plane as an Iranian fighter, an account Iran disputes.
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