Ukraine plane crashed in the early hours of Wednesday shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital city of Tehran that left all 170 passengers on board dead, according to report.
Ali Khashani, a senior public relations official at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, said that the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 went down in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Robat Karim county, Press TV reported.
He further said that the crash was likely due to technical difficulties, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said, “An investigation team was at the site of the crash in southwestern outskirts of Tehran”.
“After taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, it crashed between Parand and Shahriar,” Jafarzadeh said.
“An investigation team from the national aviation department was dispatched to the location after the news was announced”, he added.
Pir Hossein Kulivand, an Iranian emergency official, later told state TV all those on board were killed in the crash. He said rescuers were trying to collect the dead.
Earlier, according to State TV, there were 180 passengers and crew aboard. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.
The crash came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq housing US forces in retaliation to the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassim Suleimani.
The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.
In March 2016, a FlyDubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia that killed 62 onboard. Another 737-800 flight from Dubai, operated by Air India Express, crashed in May 2010 while trying to land in Mangalore, India, killing more than 150 onboard.
(With inputs from agency)