Iran plane crash: ‘No survivors’ as Ukraine Boeing 737 carrying 176 comes down near Tehran

No indication at this stage that crash is linked to Iran’s missile attacks on US airbases

A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 176 people has crashed near Tehran shortly after take-off, with rescue officials ruling out the chance of finding survivors.

Flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800, stopped sending data almost immediately after leaving Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning, and wreckage was found between Parand and Shahriar towns, a civil aviation spokesperson said.

Appearing on Iranian state TV, rescue officials said they believed all those on board had been killed in the crash.

A statement released by the Ukrainian Security Council said that 168 passengers and 9 crew were registered for the flight. Two of those registered to fly did not board the plane. There were three British nationals among the dead — Sam Kokaei, Khademasa Tahmasebi and Mohamed Kadkhoda-Zadeh — but the vast majority of those on board were Iranian (82) and Canadian (63).

The plane left took off at 6:12 am, losing contact two minutes later. According to Iranian media, the pilot did not send any distress signal back to the control tower.

The crash came just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missile strikes at two US bases in Iraq.

Iranian state officials were quick to assign cause to technical issues, and there was no indication at this early stage that the two events were linked.

Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry, said the pilot “lost control of the plane” after a fire broke out in one of its engines.

Initially, a statement on the website of Ukraine's Iranian embassy appeared to support that interpretation. It suggested the plane crashed "as a result of technical malfunction of an engine," and ruled out the "possibility of a terror attack or missile strike." Later, the statement was removed with no explanation.

A photo published by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency showed rescue officials in a farm field, with what appeared to be pieces of the aircraft laying nearby.

Another state-run news agency published what appeared to be footage of the aircraft in its final moments, showing a liner engulfed in flames before exploding on impact.

Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) were founded in 1992 and are partly owned by the controversial oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. They operate a fleet of 42 aircraft, with an average age of 11 years. While many airlines in the former Soviet Union are considered to be patchy on safety, UIA were considered to have an excellent record, with no fatal incidents up to today. The plane involved was only three years old.

A spokesman for Ukrainian International said that the plane had undergone its last scheduled safety inspection just two days ago, on 6 January.

"Ukrainian International Airlines have taken the decision to suspend flights to Iran until further notice," the spokesman added.

The Boeing 737-800 itself 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.

Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes.

A number of 737-800 aircraft have been involved in deadly accidents over the years.

In March 2016, a Flydubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia, killing 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.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

Additional reporting by agencies