The bodies of 152 people killed in an Iranian airliner have been returned to their families, an Iranian state broadcaster reported Sunday.

In all, 168 people died in Wednesday's crash of the Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 plane north of Tehran.

The bodies of 152 aboard the plane have been given to their families, while the bodies of five Armenian passengers have been given to their country's officials, authorities said. The whereabouts of the rest of the passengers and crew were unknown.

Eight Russian experts have joined Iranian investigators in searching for clues to the crash of Caspian Airlines Flight 7908, lead investigator Ahmad Majidi told the government-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, IRIB.

Russian and Iranian investigators were examining three flight recorders recovered from the crash scene, Majidi said. Fragments of the plane have been moved to special laboratories in Tehran for examination, he added.

The plane crashed 16 minutes after takeoff in farm land in a village in Takestan region of the Qazvin province.