Pilots of an Iranian airliner catching fire while landing Wednesday night avoided a disaster by intentionally steering the aircraft into a river, passengers aboard said here Thursday.

There was something wrong with the landing and braking system of the plane, and the pilots made the possibly wisest choice, Ghasm Ghorbani, an Iranian passenger, told Xinhua.

The Boeing 707 plane, returning from the Gulf island of Kish, crash landed at Tehran's main airport at 11:15 local time Wednesday night, with 157 passengers and 16 crew members on board.

An infant was killed and some other people injured in the accident.

The latest official report said that one tyre of the plane burst and caused the incident.

"When the plane touched the ground, the passengers felt that it was not a normal landing and several attempts were made to reduce speed but the plane was still rushing," Lu Xinzhong, a Chinese passenger whose glasses were broken in the accident, told Xinhua.

"We could just feel the plane was rushing very fast. The lamps in the cabin were all off, it was dark and we could see nothing but a shining firelight at the left wing, and women and children were screaming," he said.

Lu said that the plane was still at high speed when it was close to the end of the runway.

Then it seemed to take off again for another try of landing, Ghorbani said, adding that it was too late and the pilots had to steer the plane into a river which was about 5 meters wide and 5 meters deep.

"They had to, and they were familiar with that area, which helped them make the wisest choice," Ghorbani said.

"If the plane went on, it might have collided with buildings or something else, and none of us could survive," he stressed.

Ghorbani also confirmed that the pilots and attendants aboard left the plane before passengers.

"Some people who remain unwounded were rescuing others, but the crew members left. I tried to find them for help, but they disappeared," he said.

Source: Xinhua