Mystery surrounds Ukraine plane crash killing 170 onboard, Tehran refuses to handover blackbox
Iran will not give the black box of the crashed Ukrainian airliner to planemaker Boeing, the head of Tehran’s civil aviation organization was quoted as saying on Wednesday. A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed earlier on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport.
Earlier today, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said that crashed Ukraine plane had 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians on board. Detailing the casualties on Twitter, he also said there were 11 Ukrainians on board including nine crew, 10 from Sweden, four passengers from Afghanistan, three from Germany, and three from Britain.
Ukrainian Boeing 737 plane with 176 people on board crashed near Tehran airport early on Wednesday. The plane reportedly suffered mechanical issues after which it fell on to the ground. There were no survivors in the deadly plane crash incident.
Crashed plane had 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians on board: Ukraine Foreign Minister
Meanwhile, Vice president of operations at the Ukraine International Airlines said that a pilot error is unlikely to have caused the crash of Ukraine's Boeing 737 near Tehran. "We know, as of today, that the aircraft went to the altitude of 2,400 meters (7,874 feet). The crew mistake is minimal. We simply do not consider it. Considering their experience, it is very hard to say that it could somehow be about the crew," Sputnik quoted vice president of operations at the Ukraine International Airlines sIgor Sosnovsky as saying at a briefing.
Pilot mistake unlikely to have crushed Ukraine plane in Iran
Soon after multiple ballistic missiles were launched on Iraq airbases housing US troops on Wednesday, Iran has threatened to bomb Israel and Dubai if the United States retaliates to the missile attack. Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned the US and its regional allies against retaliating over the missile attack. More than a dozen missiles were fired at two Iraqi bases housing American troops in a revenge attack for the US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on Friday.
The warning was issued via a statement carried by Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.
'We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted,' it said.
READ MORE | Fierce revenge has begun: Iran threatens to hit Israel, Dubai
