A Ukrainian airline carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital Tehran, killing all on board.
Among the victims were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said. There were also 10 Swedish, four Afghan, three German and three British nationals. Most passengers were in transit, the airline said. The flight was en route to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
According to flight data, the 737-800 climbed to 8,000ft before it disappeared from the radars. It later appeared to burst into flames in the air, videos posted on social media showed.
AFP map and details of the path of Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS-752 which crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran @AFPgraphics pic.twitter.com/D72x9iVhpk
— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 8, 2020
The head of the air crash investigation committee, Hassan Razaeifar, said it appeared the pilot couldn’t communicate with air-traffic controllers in the last moments of the flight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky extended his condolences to the families of the victims. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk cautioned against speculation until the results of an investigation come to light.
Canada’s foreign minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, said he had been in touch with Ukraine’s government. “Our hearts are with the loved ones of the victims … We will continue to keep Canadians informed as the situation evolves” he said.
Initially, the Ukrainian embassy in Iran, posted a statement on its website claiming the plane crash was due to engine failure but soon retracted it. The new statement reads: “A commission is working to clarify the causes of the plane crash.”
Following the crash, Ukrainian foreign minister said he had spoken to his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif and both “agreed to coordinate” to investigate and determine the cause of the plane crash.
The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) passenger jet that crashed this morning was just three years old. “It was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew,” the airline’s president, Yevhen Dykhne, said at a news briefing.
The black box of the plane, which record cockpit conversations and flight data, has been found. But Iran’s aviation authority said it wouldn’t give the boxes to Boeing or “the Americans,” amid tensions between the two countries, AFP reported.
The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines aircraft came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in apparent retaliation for the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
Due to limited information available on the crash, the aviation experts are hesitant to explain what could have brought down the jet. It usually takes months of investigation to understand all the factors behind such accidents, airline experts say.
Major airlines canceled Iran and Iraq flights and re-routed others airspace of both countries following the missile strikes and accident.
