Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 from Tehran to Kiev crashed into an open field in a Tehran suburb minutes after departure. The three year old Boeing 737-800 with 176 souls on board ceased broadcasting from its transponder as it climbed through 8000 feet. Everyone on board, including 15 children, lost their lives. No emergency transmissions were made by the aircraft prior to impact.
On board were citizens of:
- Iran (82)
- Ukraine (11 including the 9 crew)
- Sweden (10)
- Afghanistan (4)
- United Kingdom (3)
- Germany (3)
Initial crash site photos of #Ukraine International Airline #UIA flight number #PS752 B737 that went down in #Iran pic.twitter.com/NtroTb989h
— Strategic Sentinel (@StratSentinel) January 8, 2020
While conjecture, Aviation Herald reports that the aircraft’s “field of debris expands south of [the location of impact] – which suggests, the aircraft had turned around and was moving in the direction of the airport again.”
There’s video of the aircraft’s climb out as well as descent and impact. It plane was on fire, which prompted the local resident to begin filming.
Several Iranian sources and a Dubai-based news agency reported the cause as an accidental missile strike (the UAE government is an opponent generally of Iran and UAE-based news sources should be taken with a grain of salt on this issue). This speculation has spread broadly.
Tragic news out of Tehran. Preliminary photos (if accurate) show anti-aircraft missile damage, suggesting a shoot down. Holes in Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 control surfaces point to more than “technical problems” @bydanielvictor pic.twitter.com/16pYGoTAfS
— Quinn Hatoff (@QuinnHatoff) January 8, 2020
The airline has suspended its Tehran flights.
Ukraine’s Embassy in Iran initially stated that an engine failure – rather than an attack – caused the crash. However the embassy then deleted its statement and indicated it hadn’t been official. Several airlines have re-routed traffic to avoid the region and the U.S. is banning overflights in the area (U.S. planes might seem at increased risk with the President of Iran citing the downing of Iran Air 655 in response to President Trump’s remarks on tensions).
This is the first crash occurrence for Ukraine International Airlines, the worst disaster for a Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft, and the worst aviation disaster n Iran in a decade.
Wasn’t it PS752 not PS753?
There were dozens of Canadian citizens on board this flight too.
Iranians, Canadians, Ukrainians and Swedes were the majority of the passengers on the flight.
It seems like one of the plane engines was on fire. That could be a mechanical fault with the engine, but heat-seeking projectiles also love to go after engines.
I would expect that there is no dearth of recorded imagery around and at the Tehran airport — even at (and especially now) at night time. So it’s to be seen who releases what about this in terms of imagery of various sorts.
“Several Iranian sources and a Dubai-based news agency reported the cause as an accidental missile strike (the UAE government is an opponent generally of Iran and UAE-based news sources should be taken with a grain of salt on this issue). This speculation has spread broadly.”
“with the President of Iran citing the downing of Iran Air 655 in response to President Trump’s remarks on tensions”
It would be peak tragic irony if after holding on to and complaining about the US misidentifying and shooting down a civvy airliner for Iran to go and do the same thing.
It would indeed be a tragic irony for this airliner downing to have been the result of military-type violence from Iran.
Let’s just hope that Iran doesn’t copy the US in giving the head of any such firing unit a major medal for service after ordering a shooting down of a civilian airliner. That’s what the US did after shooting down an IranAir plane.
The first picture in the tweet looks like a children’s playground and not an open field
Horrible event and, while it is jumping to a conclusion, it sure seems unlikely that the attack by Iran and the plane going down are a coincidence. Also, thankfully the US wasn’t involved via a drone or responding to the attack from Iran. You can rest assured if there was any way to pin it on the US (even if totally unfounded) the Iranian press would have done that. I’ve not seen any speculation at all to that effect which is good.
Very sad for those on board and I can’t imagine how horrible that was. Saw there were 63 Canadians and also students returning from Iran to Ukraine. Picture of children’s book and other effects in the wreckage is heartbreaking.
With a large number of Iranian citizens onboard will this be pinned on the US as having shot down a plane in Iranian airspace? Seems like something a twisted govt would try to do.