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Ukrainian Plane Crashes In Iran Kills 176

On Wednesday, an Ukraine International Airlines’ plane carrying 176 people crashed just minutes after take-off from Tehran main airport burning farmlands on the outskirts of Tehran killing everyone on board.

This crash happened a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on US bases in Iraq. Both Iranian and Ukrainian officials suspect that the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was bought down due to some mechanical issue.

The plane had nine crew members and 167 nationals from different countries. Vadim Prystaiko, the foreign minister of Ukraine said that there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians(Two passengers and nice crew members), 10 Swedish, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals.

The officials said that most of the passengers were on their way to Kyiv which is the capital city of Ukraine while going via there to other destinations.

President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky cut his visit to Oman on short notice and returned to Kyiv because of the crash. He further extended his condolences to the family of the victims. He even ordered for sweeping inspection of all civil aeroplanes in the country.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk confirmed the death toll. In a Facebook statement, parliament speaker Dmytro Razumkov said that their primary task is to find the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all help necessary to the families of the victims.

According to the data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane was delayed by an hour and took off west from Imam Khomeini International Airport but was not able to reach 8000 feet in the air. Spokesperson of Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry Qassem Biniaz claims that a fire could have struck one of the plane’s engines which led to the pilot losing control and the plane crashing down to the ground.

The head of air crash investigation committee Hassan Razaeifar said that it seemed like the pilot lost the ability to communicate with the air-traffic control in Tehran during the last moments of the flight.

 

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