Iran plane crash: Ukraine Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 176 crashes in Tehran
A Ukrainian passenger aircraft has crashed shortly after take-off from Iran’s Imam Khomenei International Airport in Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that all passengers and crew on board Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 were killed, citing preliminary information.
“My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew,” he said.
Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko said that there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians on board — the Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew. There were also 10 Swedish, four Afghan, three German and three British nationals on board.
Iran’s civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said an investigation team was at the crash site on the south-western outskirts of Tehran.
“After taking off from Imam Khomeini international airport it crashed between Parand and Shahriar,” Mr Jafarzadeh said.
Television footage showed debris and smouldering engine parts strewn across a field, and rescue workers with face masks retrieving the bodies of victims.
Earlier rescue teams were unable to battle the fires at the crash site to look for any survivors.
“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 state television.
Iranian authorities quickly attributed the crash to an engine failure, but the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran has retracted an initial statement saying a mechanical fault was to blame.
The embassy said in a second statement that the causes had not been disclosed and that any previous comments were not official.
Asked at a briefing in Kiev if the plane could have been downed by a missile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk cautioned against speculation until the results of an investigation were known.
He also said that Ukraine had banned flights through Iranian airspace by its airliners from January 9.
Ukraine International Airlines said the aircraft was checked only two days before the accident, and was built in 2016.
“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,” the airline said in a statement.
In response to the incident, President Zelenskiy said Ukraine will test the airworthiness of its entire civilian fleet of aircraft, “no matter the conclusions about the crash in Iran”.
He also instructed his prosecutor general to open criminal proceedings – without specifying who they would involve – and said a commission should be set up to investigate the causes of the crash.
Foreign minister Vadym Prystaiko said Tehran had agreed to coordinate its investigations with the Ukrainians to determine the cause of the crash.
Iranian state media reported that both of the aircraft’s black boxes – flight recorders that track dozens of data points useful to air crash investigators – had been recovered.
“The two black boxes of the Ukrainian 737 aeroplane that crashed this morning have been found,” Iran’s civil aviation spokesman told Iranian news agency ISNA.
But Ali Abedzadeh, the authority’s head, said Iran will not give the recovered flight recorders to Boeing.
Mr Abedzadeh told the semi-official news agency Mehr it was not yet clear which country Iran would send the black boxes to.
Under international law, Iran would lead the investigation since the crash occurred on its soil. Few nations have the expertise and technical facilities to conduct a full accident probe, however, so the US, France or other countries often provide assistance.
Data from the black boxes will have to be downloaded in a specialised lab and only a handful exist around the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to Ukrainian President Zelenskiy following the crash.
“The head of the Russian state conveyed words of sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims,” a Kremlin statement said.
Canada’s foreign minister said he had been in touch with the Ukrainian after learning that 63 Canadians died in the crash.
Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne called it tragic news and said Wednesday Canada’s “hearts are with the loved ones of the victims, including many Canadians.” He vowed to keep Canadians informed as the situation evolves.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde offered her sympathies to the families of at least 10 Swedish nationals who were aboard the plane: “My warmest condolences to the relatives. It is a tragedy for the victims, their families and friends.”
Four German nationals were aboard the flight, and foreign minister Heiko Maas said he was “deeply saddened” by news of the crash.
“Our thoughts go out to the friends and families of the victims,” he said on Twitter.
The crash is the first such fatal incident for Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), founded in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Flight data from the airport showed a Ukrainian 737-800 aircraft flown by UIA took off for Kiev on Wednesday morning, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterwards, according to website FlightRadar24.
The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world and it has a good safety record.
The model’s twin engines are made by CFM International, a US-French venture co-owned by General Electric and France’s Safran.
Modern aircraft are designed and certified to cope with an engine failure shortly after take-off and to fly for extended periods on one engine. However, an uncontained engine failure releasing shrapnel can cause damage to other aircraft systems.
CFM said on Wednesday that any speculation regarding the cause of the crash was premature.
“We have no further information at this time. Any speculation regarding the cause is premature,” the company which is co-owned by General Electric and Safran said in a statement.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing said it was ready to assist “in any way needed”.
“We are in contact with our airline customer and stand by them in this difficult time,” the company said.
International airlines announced they were diverting or suspending flights to Iran in the aftermath of the crash following Iranian strikes on Iraq.
UAE carriers Emirates Airline and Flydubai said they had cancelled flights to Baghdad for “operational reasons”.
In Germany, Lufthansa said it had cancelled its daily flight to Tehran in addition to halting overflights of Iran and Iraq until further notice.
It added that Saturday’s twice-weekly service to northern Iraqi city Erbil would also not depart.
“As a precautionary measure and following news of air strikes underway, Air France has decided to suspend until further notice all flights through Iranian and Iraqi airspace,” an Air France spokesman told AFP.
A KLM spokesman told AFP: “Until further notice, KLM has no flights over Iranian or Iraqi airspace. All flights to different Southeast Asian destinations and other destinations in the Middle East will be flown through alternative routes.”
Australia’s Qantas said one of its London-Perth flights would be rerouted, with the other already flying an alternative route.
“We’re adjusting our flight paths over the Middle East to avoid the airspace over Iraq and Iran until further notice,” said a spokesman.
Both Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines said they would divert flights from Iranian airspace.
At Kiev International Airport, where the flight was due to arrive, the father of one of the crew described finding out about the crash.
“My daughter called at 6:15 this morning to say that in the US they were reporting that a plane had crashed, a Ukraine International Airlines plane,” said Valery Matkov on Wednesday.
“She asked where Ihor was flying to, and we said ‘Tehran’ and that he would return on the morning flight,” he added.
“And then we found the video of the plane crashing.”