A passenger plane bound for Kyiv crashed and burned after takeoff from the Iranian capital Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.
Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800, went down in the southwest outskirts of Tehran just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini airport, Iranian officials said. In footage circulated by the state-run Iranian media outlet ISNA, the jet appeared to be burning as it fell from the sky, before exploding on impact with the ground. Iranian state media later published pictures showing debris from the aircraft lying in a field.
The majority of passengers were from Iran and Canada, with Swedes, Germans and Britons also among the casualties.
Iran’s civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said the pilot had not contacted the airport’s control tower or announced an emergency before the crash.
The crash took place amid soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran, just hours after Iran fired missiles on U.S. military bases in neighboring Iraq in retaliation for the killing of a top general. But there were no concrete indications Thursday linking the crash to the conflict with the United States.
READ: What you need to know about Iran’s attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq
Ukrainian officials added to the confusion surrounding the crash, after the country’s embassy in Tehran issued a statement ruling out a terror or rocket attack and blaming engine failure, before removing the claim and saying any previous comments were not official. Citing an embassy official, Reuters reported that Iranian officials had asked the embassy to rescind the statement.
Asked at a briefing in Kyiv whether the plane could have been downed by a missile, Ukraine's Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk cautioned against speculation until an investigation was conducted.
Iranian media reported that the crash was due to unspecified “technical problems.”
Iran said one of the aircraft’s two black boxes had been recovered, but the head of the country’s civil aviation authority, Ali Abedzadeh, said it would not be giving it to aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
Under international rules, Iran is responsible for investigating the crash. Ukraine, as the home country of the airline, and the U.S., as the home country of the manufacturer, would also typically be involved, which raises questions about how an investigation will be conducted given the hostile relations between Tehran and Washington.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the plane was carrying 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians, including all nine crew members, along with 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. Iranian officials said 147 of the victims were Iranian, suggesting many of the victims were dual nationals.
Ukrainian officials said that two passengers who had bought tickets for the flight had not boarded the plane.
The plane, a 737-800, was less than four years old, and had had its most recent scheduled maintenance on Jan. 6.
The 737-800 is one of the world’s most widely-used commercial airliners, and doesn’t have the software issue linked to the crashes of two 737 MAX’s that led the manufacturer to ground that model in March.
The crash is Ukraine International Airlines’ first since it was founded in 1992.
Cover: 08 January 2020, Iran, Shahedshahr: Rescue workers and forensic investigators inspect the bodies of victims of a Ukrainian plane crash. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport, killing all onboard. Photo by: Mahmoud Hosseini/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
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