An Iranian Tupolev passenger plane bound for Yerevan, Armenia, crashed Wednesday morning in Iran’s northwest Qazvin province, killing all 168 people on board.

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told Iranian state media that the airplane, owned by Caspian Airlines, crashed near Janat-Abad village at 11:45 a.m. (3:15 a.m. Eastern), 16 minutes after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport.

Members of Iran’s Junior Judo squad, including eight athletes and two coaches, were among those killed in the crash, the state-run, English-language news service Press TV reported. Based on a list of passengers provided to state media, the crash victims appeared to be mostly Armenians and Iranians.

Sanctions against Iran, aimed at halting Tehran’s nuclear program, have significantly reduced its ability to import all sorts of specialist equipment from countries outside the U.S. Iran’s aviation sector is comprised of an aging, hodge-podge fleet of passenger and military aircraft, which Iranian officials say have become increasingly difficult to maintain because of sanctions.

In May, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Transportation called on Arab states attending a Tehran aviation conference to resist economic sanctions against Tehran that prohibit the purchase of aircraft components.