Tehran  - High speed was probably the main cause of the fiery, deadly landing of a plane in the north-eastern Iranian city of Mashad, the head of the Civil Aviation Organization said Saturday.

Mohammad-Ali Ilkhani told the ISNA news agency that the Russian-made Ilyushin 62M belonging to Aria Airlines was travelling at 320 kilometres per hour Friday on landing, when it caught fire and slammed into a wall next to the runway, killing 16 people.

The plane itself had no technical defects, Ilkhani said.

Twenty-nine people on board the plane were injured in the accident, organization spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told the Fars news agency.

Of the dead, 13 were crew members and three were passengers on the plane that had been carrying 153 people on a flight from Tehran, the spokesman said, adding that the plane belonged to Kazakhstan.

Ilkhani said nine of the dead crew members were Kazakh nationals, adding that the pilot, who also died, was non-Iranian while not specifying his nationality.

The Iranian co-pilot survived the incident and was in hospital, Ilkhani said.

Ilkhani's agency decided to revoke the licence of Aria Airlines for the time being, he added.

Television footage showed the plane with its tail on the ground and the cockpit a mass of tangled metal. The rest of the aircraft appeared intact.

Mashad airport was temporarily closed after the accident, delaying the arrival of inspection teams from Tehran.

Two weeks ago, another Russian-made Iranian passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff on a flight from Tehran to Armenia, killing all 168 on board.

The accidents were the ninth and 10th plane crashes 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. (dpa)