//A total of 176 people died after a Ukranian owned Boeing 737 crashed just eight minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, killing everyone on board. According to the Ukranian minister for foreign affairs, the victims by nationality were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians including the nine crew, ten Swedish, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British.
The Ukranian embassy in Iran initially blamed engine failure for the crash and denied any terrorist involvement, however, the embassy later retracted the statement saying that all options are being considered, reports The Telegraph.
“A commission is working to clarify the causes of the plane crash. Any statements regarding the causes of the accident prior to the findings of the commission are not official”, the embassy said in a statement.
Ali Abedzadeh, the chief of Tehran’s civil aviation organisation said that Iran will not hand over the plane’s black box to Boeing, according to Reuters.
In response to reports of engine failure, Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) who operated the Boeing 737 aircraft said that there was “nothing wrong” with the plane, which is reported to have been serviced two days prior to the crash and was under four years old.
“The aircraft was in good condition… We guarantee the serviceability of our aircraft and the high qualification of our crews”, President of UIA Yevgeny Dykhne said in a press briefing.
Ali Hashem, a BBC correspondent in the region tweeted out a video that purportedly shows the plane on fire while still in the air, although the footage has not been confirmed//