Ukrainian president says all dead on board airliner that crashed in Iran, reports that black box has been recovered
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that all passengers and crew on board a Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran have been killed, citing preliminary information.
In a statement, Zelenskiy said Ukraine was trying to establish the circumstances of the crash and the death toll.
“My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew,” he said.
Iranians rescuers looking through wreckage of Ukrainian-bound jet that crashed after taking off from Tehran. All 170 on board killed. (Video from @bazabazon) pic.twitter.com/jeljAOp9bh
— Mike Eckel (@mikeeckel.bsky.social) (@Mike_Eckel) January 8, 2020
The Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 carrying at least 170 people on Wednesday crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran because of technical problems, according to the Iranian state news media.
Everyone on board died in the crash, the Iranian state news media reported.
The plane was bound for Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, local media reported.
PS752 is a regular flight connecting Tehran to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, operated five times per week.
The Boeing Company is following the reports coming from Tehran. “We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information,” the company said in a tweet. IRIB media corporation reports that the black box has been recovered from the crash site and handed over to Iranian authorities.
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 departed Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6:12 a.m. on Wednesday and lost contact at 6:14 a.m., according to a flight tracker.
In the meantime, United Arab Emirates airline flydubai cancelled a flight to Baghdad on Wednesday after Iran earlier launched missile attacks on U.S. led forces in Iraq.
Its flights to the Iraqi cities of Basra and Najaf would operate on Wednesday, the airline said.
“We are liaising with the relevant authorities and continue to monitor the situation closely.”
