Close to 50 passengers, including seven children, were killed while a dozen people were left injured after their plane crashed in a residential area after taking off from Tehran's Mehrabad airport Sunday, Iran's official news agency IRNN reported.

Reports said a civilian plane, a turboprop Antonov An-140, was bound for Tabas in northeastern Iran when it  crashed into the Azad residential block on Mina 6 boulevard.

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" All the passengers are dead", a fire service official said on IRNN. IRNN reported that it has not received any information yet on whether there were people killed on the ground.

Rescuers rushed to the crash site and pulled out bodies from the plane. Initial reports said there were 12 survivors pulled out from the wreckage.

IRNN reported that engine trouble caused the plane to crash.Reports said Iran's aviation sector has suffered tremendously over the years, causing repeated plane crashes brought on by international sanctions.

Reports said Iran's planes are aging, dating back to 1979 and are poorly maintained. Iran politicians are blaming the international sanctions which prevent the country from purchasing new ones.

Over the years, Iran has tried to keep its  fleet of aircraft in operations by buying imported parts from the black market and those produced locally.

The Iranian news agency said  Iran's four largest carriers have ages of more than 22 years. These are the Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Iran Air Tours and Mahan Air.These carriers serve a market of 76 million people.

The last Iran plane crash happened in 2011 when an Iran Air Boeing 727 crashed as it attempted to do an emergency landing in a snowstorm in western Iran killing 77 passengers.

Iran Air said they will need to puirchase 100 jetliners to service their passengers once international sanctions have been lifted, reports said.

Tagscrash, Iran