All 176 Passengers And Crew Fatally Injured

A Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 with 176 passengers and crew on board went down Wednesday morning, resulting in the fatal injury of everyone on board.

Fox News reports that the Ukraine International Airlines flight en route from Tehran to Kiev went down shortly after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport. Iranian officials said the accident was the result of a mechanical problem. Ukrainian officials initially agreed with that assessment, but later said they are looking at a range of possible causes.

A spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry said one of the plane's engines caught fire shortly after takeoff, which led to the pilot's loss of control of the aircraft.

A witness said it appeared that the pilot steered the stricken airliner away from a residential area towards a soccer field. The plane went down near the field in a canal.

Ukraine International Airlines has suspended flights to Tehran indefinitely following the accident. Yevhen Dykhne, president of the Ukraine International Airlines, said at a briefing that the plane was "one of the best ... we had, with an amazing, reliable crew." A representative for Boryspil airport in Kiev, the plane's destination, said the passengers on that flight are generally Iranian students returning to Ukraine after their winter break.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said that a team of investigators was being sent to Iran.

The accident occurred shortly after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. positions in Iraq. CNN reports that it will not turn over the airplane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders to Boeing or the United States. International rules dictate that an accident investigation is led by the country in which the accident occurred.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report
Source report