The flight was going between Tehran and Urmia. The plane crashed when it was about to land. It crashed near a lake. The crash happened at around 19:45 (16:15 UTC), and was thought to be caused by bad weather. The aircraft had missed its first try at landing, and it either crashed during a go-around, or while trying to return to Tehran. The weather at the time of the accident included snow and it was hard to see. When it crashed, the plane broke into more than one piece, but there was no fire or explosion. There were different reports right after the crash as to the type of aircraft that it happened to. Either a Fokker 100 or a Boeing 727 was thought to have crashed, but it was later made clear that the plane was a 727. 