A Boeing 737 plane carrying 176 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran, Iran’s capital, killing everyone on board.
The Ukrainian International Airlines plane which took off from the Iranian capital city’s main international airport by 6:12am Tehran time on Wednesday January 8, went down eight minutes after takeoff according to flight tracking websites.
Though a video purportedly of the crash circulated by the ISNA news agency showed the aircraft burning as it fell from the sky, early indications suggested the crash did not appear to have links to Wednesday morning’s missile strikes on bases in Iraq hosting US and coalition troops.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Vadym Prystaiko later announced on Twitter that the plane was carrying 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons.
It has also been reported that the Boeing 737 airplane belongs to the same family as the 737 Max 8 aircraft, which has been grounded since suffering two fatal crashes within six months in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian airline said that the crashed Boeing was new and was checked two days ago.
“The plane was manufactured in 2016, it was received by the airline directly from the (Boeing) factory.
“The plane underwent its last planned technical maintenance on January 6, 2020,” Ukraine International Airlines said in a statement.
Ukraine International Airlines is expected to release the full list of the passengers anytime soon.
