KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th January, 2020) Ukraine International Airlines (UIA)'s passenger plane has crashed not far from Tehran's airport, leaving all the passengers and crew members killed, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, citing preliminary information of the airline.
"According to preliminary information of a UIA representative, on January 8, 2020, a UIA passenger aircraft suffered an accident and crashed not far from the airport, after take-off from Imam Khomeini International Airport (Tehran). According to the information that is being verified, the passengers of the above-mentioned flight and the crew members died," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry wrote on Facebook.
Ukraine's Boeing 737, carrying 167 passengers, was supposed to travel to Kiev. While Iranian media reports said the tragedy had resulted from some technical problem, it happened mere hours after Iran's strikes on US military facilities in Iraq, conducted as a revenge operation following the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps top commander.
