A Boeing 707 cargo plane crashed in Iran on Monday, killing 15 people on board, after the pilot lost control of the aircraft, according to state media.

The Boeing 707 came off the runway and hit a residential area while trying to land at Fath airport in Karaj, 40km west of Tehran, in poor weather, reported BBC.

Only a flight engineer of the 16 people on board was found alive, with no-one reportedly killed on the ground.

The plane's "black box" voice recorder has been found at the crash site, it stated.

An army spokesman confirmed to state TV that the plane belonged to Iran, and that all those on board were Iranian citizens.

Due to a mistake by the pilot, it came down at the Fath airport," Fars News reported, citing Iranian officials. The plane crashed into a wall separating the airport from a residential area and then hit a house.

Fath airport belongs to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, and is located in the central Iranian province of Alborz, reported CNN citing local media reports.

Its wreckage was found smouldering among houses in a residential area between Fath and another airport, Payam International Airport, it added.