Move FM Global News

TEHRAN, Iran – A plane crash near Iran’s major international airport in Tehran has claimed the lives of 176 passengers and crew.

The Ukrainian airliner crashed soon after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on Wednesday, Iranian and Ukraine officials confirmed.

The Boeing 737-800NG aircraft was being operated as Flight PS 752 by Ukraine International Airlines which operates out of the Ukraine capital, Kiev. It crashed and burst into flames shortly after take-off. The crash coincided with a barrage of missile strikes launched from Iran at Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops, a retaliation for the U.S. assassination of Iranian military commander Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Qasem Soleimani on Friday.

Despite the timing, Ukraine officials have stressed the plane’s crash was due to technical issues and not related to U.S.-Iran hostilities, or to terrorism. It is unclear as to how this determination has been arrived at so soon after the crash.

The Ukrainian consul in Iran issued a statement Wednesday ruling out ‘terrorism,’ and saying the plane suffered engine failure.

The Ukraine government has launched an investigation

“An operational headquarters has been set up within the NSDC of Ukraine in connection with the UIA plane crash in Iran,” Ukraine Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said in a statement Wednesday.

“The Ukrainian consul is working on site.”

“We are currently clarifying the number of passengers and crew on board. According to preliminary data, 167 passengers and 9 crew members were registered,” the prime minister said.

Ominously the crash of their Boeing 737 plane comes at a time when the Ukraine airline has been juggling its operations following a decision to ground its Boeing 777 planes just last month.

The ban was implemented after “a routine engine checkup and identification of a fault that requires complete engine replacement,” the airline said in a statement in December.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed there were no survivors in Wednesday’s crash.

“My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew,” Zelenskiy said in a statement.

The nationalities of those on board have not been released, although Iranian media is saying thirty-two of those who perished were foreigners. It is unclear as to whether that meant they were not from Iran or Ukraine.

Iran media is also saying the pilot of the plane did not declare an emergency.

“The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue… we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site,” Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency services, told Iranian state television.

The crash of a Boeing 737 comes at a bad time for the aircraft manufacturer which is enduring a worldwide ban on the use of its 737 Max planes, which has bene pulled from service following two plane crashes that have killed 346 people.