Iran Plane Crash: 176 People Die As Boeing 737 Crashes After Taking Off From Tehran International Airport
All 176 people on board a Ukrainian Boeing 737 died when it crashed shortly after take off from Iran’s main international airport, officials in Tehran and Kiev have said.
Ukrainian PM Oleksiy Honcharuk said there were 167 passengers and nine crew members on the plane. Iranian state television said there were no survivors and Flight PS 752 came down due to what it described as “technical problems” after leaving Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran en route to Kiev.
The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran said it was trying to clarify the circumstances around the crash and that engine failure was the cause. Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported that the pilot lost control when a fire broke out in one of the engines – quoting Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran’s road and transport ministry.
The plane’s black box has been recovered by Iranian rescue workers, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported. Footage showed the wreckage of the plane and smouldering engine parts strewn across a field as rescue workers with face masks recovered bodies of the victims.
An investigation team is at the site of the crash in the southwestern outskirts of Tehran, civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said. The majority of the passengers were Iranian nationals, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing Iranian authorities. Staff at Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, where the plane was headed, told The Associated Press passengers on this flight are usually Iranian students returning to Ukraine after the winter holidays. Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency services, told state television the plane was on fire when emergency services first arrived at the crash scene.
“The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue… we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site,” he said. Dmytro Razumkov, Ukraine’s parliament speaker, said in a statement on Facebook: “Our task is to establish the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all necessary help to the families of the victims.”
Ukraine said special aircraft were on standby to fly to Iran to bring back the bodies of Ukrainian victims. Its president Volodymyr Zelensky, on an official visit in Oman, offered his condolences to the relatives of those killed and cut short the trip to return to the Ukrainian capital.
A Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran early Wednesday morning according to Iran???s semi-official news agency ISNA. The Boeing 737 belonging to the Ukrainian Airlines had 180 passengers and crew aboard and crashed shortly after take-off due technical difficulties, ISNA says. Preliminary reports suggest that the plane was en route to Kiev.
Flight data from the airport showed a three-year-old Boeing 737-NG flown by Ukraine International Airlines took off on Wednesday morning, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterwards, according to website FlightRadar24.
A Boeing spokesman said it was aware of reports of a plane crash in Iran and was gathering more information. The crash came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq housing US and coalition forces in retaliation for the killing of Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani.
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