A WHEEL on an Iranian plane exploded and caught fire as the aircraft made a hard landing in the city of Isfahan, state media reported, the latest in a series of air accidents.
The accident occurred late on Tuesday when the plane from Tehran was landing at Isfahan airport in the centre of the country, the state broadcaster said.
No passengers were injured, it added, without saying how many were on board.
”The plane had a bad landing, causing one of the wheels to explode and catch fire, but airport officials kept the plane door closed and put out the fire,” the report said.
Civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh identified the plane as Fokker 100 belonging to domestic carrier Aseman Airlines but denied there was an emergency landing.
”Following a normal landing in Isfahan, the pilot decided that the plane be checked before passengers disembarked as he felt that the level of heat in one of the wheels was abnormal.”
It was the second aviation incident reported this week.
On Monday three people were killed and three others injured when a police helicopter crashed in the southern province of Kerman.
Iran, which has been under years of international sanctions hampering its ability to buy new planes, has suffered a number of aviation disasters over the past decade.
Its civil and military fleet is made up of ancient aircraft in very poor condition due to their age and lack of maintenance.
In July, an Iranian airliner en route to Armenia caught fire mid-air and plunged flaming into farmland, killing all 168 people on board in the worst air disaster in Iran in years.
Also last month, an Iranian airliner overshot the runway in the second city of Mashhad and slammed into a perimeter wall, killing 17 people.
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A similar aircraft with 
A wheel on an Aseman Airlines   caught fire late on Tuesday night after landing in , Iran following a flight from .

It is unclear if the aircraft landed normally or experienced a hard landing, with accounts conflicting. It is known that after landing the crew noticed that the brake temperature in one of the wheels was unusually high as they left the runway, and requested that fire crews responded before the passengers disembarked.

When emergency services arrived they discovered that the wheel was alight, and the fire was extinguished. The plane then proceeded to the , and the passengers left the jet as normal. The plane subsequently departed as scheduled the following morning.

Air accidents are common in Iran, which has an aging fleet that is poorly maintained both for civil and military operations. International sanctions have meant that new aircraft cannot be purchased. Earlier this week, a police helicopter crash killed three people and wounded three more. Last month Iran saw its worst air disaster in years when an airliner heading to Armenia crashed, killing the 168 on board. The same month saw another airliner overrun a runway at  and strike a wall, killing seventeen.