Iranian investigators have formally identified a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 which crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport.
The Civil Aviation Organisation says the twinjet was registered UR-PSR and had been bound for Kiev.
It states that the aircraft took off at 06:12, operating as flight PS752, but lost contact with air traffic control at 06:18, just 6min later.
Take-off was conducted from Imam Khomeini’s runway 29R.
The CAO states that the aircraft came near in a district of Tehran called Saba Shahr. This area lies to the north-west of the airport.
Preliminary indications, it adds, point to no survivors among the 167 passengers and nine crew members.
Meteorological data from Imam Khomeini airport indicate temperatures marginally below freezing but no adverse weather otherwise.
“Investigation and rescue teams have been sent to the accident site,” says the CAO. “The process of data collection and accident investigation has begun.”
Most of the occupants were Iranian nationals, it adds, although citizens from other nations were also on board.
Ukraine International Airlines says the aircraft disappeared from radar contact “just minutes after departure” from Tehran.
It says it is still working to determine the precise number of passengers on board the jet.
The carrier says it is suspending flights to Tehran “indefinitely” in the aftermath of the accident, although it has not indicated whether this relates directly to the crash or the recent US-Iranian political tensions.
UIA states that it is “working closely with the aviation authorities”, to “do its best” to find out the causes of the accident.
It adds that the aircraft entered its fleet in 2016, directly from the manufacturing facility, and underwent scheduled maintenance on 6 January 2020.
Iran’s ministry of transport states that no flight recorders have yet been recovered from the accident scene.
