• A Caspian Airlines flight on Monday overshot the runway and skidded onto a highway in southwestern Iran.
  • Officials say no one on board was injured.
  • There are various reports of what may have triggered the emergency landing, which led to the plane sitting on its belly, blocking the road.
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Caspian Airlines Flight 6936 on Monday overshot the runway and skidded onto a highway in Bandar-e Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran.

There were no injuries reported among the passengers, and everyone was evacuated safely, Iranian state media reported, according to Reuters. Although images show that traffic was backed up on the road where the plane grinded to a halt, no one was hurt.

“It ran out of runway when landing at Mahshahr airport with no casualties,” the state news agency IRNA said.

Some local media outlets said the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft, which was traveling from Iran’s capital, Tehran, to Mahshahr Airport, was carrying 135 passengers and seven crew members, Reuters reported. Officials have not yet confirmed this information.

A video posted on Twitter and then shared by Iranian news outlets showed passengers climbing out of the aircraft's doors with bags in hand, while security forces and a large crowd milled about. It's still unclear who filmed the footage.

There are various reports of what may have triggered the emergency landing. IRNA, citing local aviation officials, reported that a technical issue was the cause, and other Iranian media said the pilot couldn't deploy the landing gear in time, Reuters reported. But Getty Images reported that a state TV reporter who was among the passengers said the aircraft's "back wheel had broken off, as we saw it was left on the runway" so it slid before coming to a grinding halt.

Caspian Airlines plane down in Iran

Foto: An Iranian passenger plane belonging to Caspian Airlines is seen at the site after skidded off the runway near the airport in the southern city Mahshahr, Tehran, Iran on January 27, 2020.sourceMostafa Gholamnezhad/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"The plane did not catch fire and all passengers safely left the plane," managing Director of Khuzestan Airports Mohammad Reza Rezaei told IRNA, Reuters reported.

The incident is currently being investigated.

Bahman Kalbasi, a reporter for BBC News, posted videos from the scene on Twitter, noting that a witness had shared them with him.

Iran's commercial aircraft have long been beleaguered by crashes. Officials blame sanctions imposed by the United States, which, they say, prevent airline companies from overhauling their aging fleets and even buying spare parts.

A similar incident occurred on Saturday, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency, when a technical issue forced pilots aboard a flight scheduled to fly from Tehran to Istanbul to make an emergency landing at Tehran airport, Reuters said.

Tehran-based Caspian Airlines Caspian Airlines was at the center of one of the deadliest aviation incidents in Iran's history, CNN reported. It occurred in 2009 when a plane crashed outside the city of Qazvin, killing all 153 passengers and 15 crew members.