A Ukrainian International Airline passenger plane with 170 passengers on board crashed on Wednesday morning shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran, Tasnim agency reports.
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was a scheduled international passenger flight bound from Tehran to Kiev, Ukraine, operated by a Boeing 737-800.
The B737 went down early Wednesday in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Robat Karim County, Tehran Province.
The crash apparently happened due to “technical problems”, the Iranian FARS news agency said. The plane crash was confirmed by the head of the airport. According to him, the liner crashed soon after takeoff.
Reports from Teheran say there are no survivors.
There are unconfirmed reports and rumors of an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps missile strike causing the crash.
Rescue teams have been sent to the site of the crash, said Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, saying there were 170 passengers aboard.
Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, often shortened to UIA, is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ukraine, with its head office in Kyiv and its main hub at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport.
Other airlines are avoiding Iranian airspace.
Singapore Airlines said after the attack on U.S. bases in Iraq that all of its flights would be diverted away from Iranian airspace.
Carriers are increasingly taking steps to uncover threats to their planes after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 by a missile over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
There are reports of #IRGC missile strike causing the crash.
#Ukrainian plane crashes over Tehran Boing #737-8 from #Teheran to #kief pic.twitter.com/FKtzUGSUFI
— Karimzadeh (@Almiran) January 8, 2020
