A Ukrainian airliner carrying at least 170 passengers crashed on Wednesday due to technical problems soon after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport, and all aboard were killed, Iran’s state television and a Ukrainian official said.
The Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed near the airport and burst into flames. A Ukrainian foreign ministry official in Kiev said all crew and passengers aboard were killed, citing information from the airline.
There was no official word from Ukraine International Airlines.
“The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue… we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site,” Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency services, told Iranian state television.