Ukrainian plane burst into flames before crashing, Iran’s investigators say
- Iran’s civil aviation organisation cites witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft as saying the plane was on fire while still aloft
- Fatal incident comes soon after Iran fired over a dozen missiles at US bases in retaliation for killing of General Qassem Soleimani
A Ukrainian airliner was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran killing all 176 on board, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators.
The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday morning from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport.
The report by Iran’s civil aviation organisation cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at high altitude as saying the plane was on fire while still aloft.
The three-year-old airliner, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed, the report said.
The technical problem was not specified in the report, which also said that there was no radio communication from the pilot and that the aircraft disappeared from radar at 2,440 metres (8,000 feet).