A Ukraine International Airlines flight crashed on Wednesday shortly after take-off from Imam Khomeini airport, Tehran’s main international airport, killing all those on board, Iran’s state television said.
Iranian news agency Fars reported that the Boeing 737-800 was carrying at least 170 passengers and crew members. Fars reported that the crash was suspected to have been caused by technical issues, as did Iran’s official news agency IRNA.
Iran’s civil aviation spokesperson Reza Jafarzadeh said that an investigation team was present at the site of the crash close to the airport in the southwestern peripheries of Tehran, the Associated Press reported.
“After taking off from Imam Khomeini international airport it crashed between Parand and Shahriar,” Jafarzadeh said. “An investigation team from the national aviation department was dispatched to the location after the news was announced.”
We are following reports that a Ukrainian 737-800 has crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. #PS752 departed Tehran at 02:42UTC. Last ADS-B data received at 02:44UTC. https://t.co/qXWHUPGDTu pic.twitter.com/vuAi6TOqTp
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 8, 2020
According to air tracking service FlightRadar24, flight data from Imam Khomeini International Airport showed that a Ukrainian 737-800 flown by Ukraine International Airlines took off Wednesday morning, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterwards.
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The Boeing plane had left Tehran bound for Kyiv, Iran’s ISNA news agency said, adding that 10 ambulances were sent to the crash site.
The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tragedy amid high tensions
Emergency workers work near the wreckage of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, in this still image taken from Iran Press footage. Iran Press/Handout via Reuters
The crash came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq hosting US forces in retaliation for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani.
The Boeing 737-800 has been involved in a number of fatal accidents over the years. In March 2016, a Flydubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia. Sixty-two people aboard lost their lives.
The Boeing 737-800 is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for almost 10 months following two crashes, one in Ethiopia and the other in Indonesia.
FlightRadar24 said the Ukrainian flight on Wednesday was not operated by a Boeing 737 Max.
The Boeing Company, based in Chicago, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran has suffered a series of fatal air accidents in recent years. Decades of international sanctions imposed on the country have taken a toll on its commercial passenger aircraft fleet.
The article was originally published on DW. You can read it here.