A Report of the Injuries Sustained in Iran Air Flight 277 that Crashed near Urmia, Iran

Headnote

Abstract

Background: On January 9, 2011 Iran Air Flight 277 crashed during approach to Urmia, Iran. Out of 105 passengers, 27 survived. This brief report presents a perspective of the passengers' sustained injuries.

Methods: We reviewed the recorded injuries of all passengers as provided by the Legal Medicine Organization authorities. The Injury Severity Score (ISS), an anatomical scoring system, was used to provide an overall code for those who survived with multiple anatomical injuries.

Results: There were a total of 96 ISS body region injuries among those who survived. Facial injuries (83%) were the most frequent injuries noted among fatalities, which was statistically significant (P = 0.000). In those who survived, injuries to the head and neck (37%) and facial (33%) regions were relatively less frequent than other anatomical regions. The most serious injuries among survivors belonged to the extremity (85%) region, particularly lower limb fractures (62%). Differences in extremity injuries between the survivors and fatalities were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The findings of this study were similar to other studies where the most frequent serious injuries were fractures of the extremities, particularly the lower limbs.

Keywords: Abbreviated injury scale, airplane crash during approach, injury severity score, mass casualty incidents

Cite this article as: Afshar A, Hajyhosseinloo M, Eftekhari A, Safari MB, Yekta Z. A Report of the Injuries Sustained in Iran Air Flight 277 that Crashed near Urmia, Iran. Arch Iran Med. 2012; 15(5): 317 - 319.

Introduction

'Airplane crash during approach' is defined as an emergency landing under circumstances where a normal landing is impossible. Usually the airplane is damaged, the circumstances are not under the pilot's control and a runway is not available. 1,2 Usually, because of extensive damage and fire, airplane crash accidents do not lend themselves to an extensive analysis of the occupants' injuries. Therefore there is limited detailed analysis of such accidents.3-6

On January 9, 2011 Iran Air Flight 277, a Boeing 727, crashed during approach about 5 miles from the Urmia airport runway at 19:40 pm local time. Fortunately, the airplane did not catch on fire; thus, this facilitated the identification and examination of victims. However, heavy snow and thick fog made the rescue activities difficult (Figure 1).

This brief report presents a perspective of the...