A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed shortly after take-off at 06:12 local time this morning killing all 176 people on board. Flight PS 752 was travelling to Kiev from the Iranian capital Teheran. The majority of the passengers were from Iran and Canada. The cause of the crash is unknown. Reflecting current tensions between the US and Iran, the head of Iran’s civil aviation organisation was quoted as saying that the plane’s black box flight recorder would not be handed over to either Boeing or the Americans.
These pictures of a burning airplane captured over Teheran in the early hours supposedly show the last seconds of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752. According to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Vadym Prystaiko, there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, three Germans, and three Britons on board, mostly passengers in transit.