RTWed, 08 Jan 2020 03:39 UTC
© Twitter / Iran Red Crescent SocietyIran Red Crescent workers search through debris near the location a Ukraine International Airlines flight crashed in Tehran.
A Ukrainian Boeing 737 bound for Kiev from Tehran has crashed after takeoff due to technical problems, Iranian media reported. Much of the regional airspace was cleared due to Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq.
Flight radar information showed Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 abruptly disappearing after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini airport after taking off just after 6 am local time.
There were reportedly 167 passengers on board, according to an airline representative reached by Sputnik.Later in the day, Pir-Hossein Koulivand, the head of Iran's Emergency Medical Services (EMS), confirmed to Tasnim news agency that everyone on board had died.
Rescue workers have been dispatched to the crash site located between the cities of Parand and Shahriar, but couldn't come closer because it was ablaze. The authorities sent in 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a medevac helicopter, Koulivand told.
Radar data showed the 737-800 crashing two minutes after takeoff. Multiple Iranian agencies reported on the crash, blaming unspecified
"technical problems."
Mere hours earlier, the Iranian military fired off two volleys of missiles at US bases in Iraq in retaliation for last week's drone killing of a senior Iranian officer. In response, US aviation authorities closed off the airspace over Iran and the Gulf region to all US carriers.UIA is the flag carrier of Ukraine and serves almost 90 destinations. It began flying to Tehran in the summer of 2014.
Comment: Update from
Reuters:
Iran will not give black box from crashed Ukrainian airliner to Boeing: Mehr
January 8, 2020 / 11:00 AM
Iran will not give the black box of the crashed Ukrainian airliner to planemaker Boeing, the head of Tehran's civil aviation organization was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Ali Abedzadeh also said it was not clear which country Iran would send the box to so that its data could be analyzed, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed earlier on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport.
The jet's engine
reportedly caught fire while the plan was airborne, causing the crash, according to a senior PR official at the airport. However, the pilot apparently didn't issue a distress call. The plane was reportedly in good shape, one of the airline's best, and had undergone
maintenance just 2 days before the crash.
Among the
dead: 147 Iranians (65 with dual citizenship) and 32 foreigners, including 11 Ukrainians, 63 Canadians, four Afghans, three Germans, three British nationals and 10 Swedes.
Ukraine's president, Zelensky, has called on the public to abstain from
speculating on the cause of the crash. Naturally, people are speculating, many wondering if it was accidentally shot down by Iranian military:
It smells a lot like MH17, that's for sure.
Also, since Ukraine's controllers are FUKUSraHell flunkies, this would fit as an assymetrical response.
WHO was aboard?
Who benefits?
R.C.