Turkish plane wreckage, black box located in Iranian mountains

The black box of a Turkish plane that crashed in Iran on Sunday has been located along with ten bodies of the crash's victims, Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported on Monday morning.

The private plane went down on Sunday evening over southwestern Iran during a journey from Sharjah to Istabul.

The jet was carrying three female crew and eight female passengers including a bride-to-be and her hen party companions. 

Rescue workers are still searching for the eleventh body.

The Iranian Red Crescent reported that its crew were able to reach the site of the wreckage - located in the Zagros Mountains outside of the city of Shahr-e Kord - despite initial difficulties due to the mountainous terrain and adverse weather conditions that made landing resuce helicopters impossible. 

They reported that the bodies had been severely burned but it was possible to identify eight of them. Two bodies will have to undergo special testing to confirm the identities.

Iranian television reported that a plane carrying the families of the victims arrived at the site of the crash on Monday morning.

According to Iranian media, the crash was caused by a technical fault which had caused the plane to catch fire. The pilot, identified as Malika Qawat, had reportedly contacted the nearest control tower to request an emergency landing due to a technical failure, Turkish media reported.

The private jet reportedly belonged to Turkish businessman Hussein Basaran, whose daughter Mina and seven friends were celebrating her hen party.

Pilot Malika Qawat was among the first Turkish women to qualify as a fighter pilot. She worked for Turkish airlines before being hired by Basaran, as did the flight attendant who has been named as Baril Gish. 

Sunday's crash comes only weeks after an Iranian plane crashed over the same mountain range, killing all 66 people on board.