Minutes after its take-off, the Boeing 737 airliner crashed in Iran on January 8, 2020. The Ukrainian airliner reportedly had 167 passengers and 9 crew members on board before it crashed in Tehran, Iran. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement, all the passengers and crew members who were on board are dead.
According to statements by the Iranian government on Wednesday i.e. January 8, 2020, the crash happened due to “technical difficulties”. However, on Saturday (January 12, 2020) the Iranian government admitted to having shot down the Ukranian airliner by “human error”.
The Associated Press report claims that the plane was shot down by missiles fired by the Iranian military. Military claims to have shot down the airliner mistaking it for a “hostile target”.
Flight PS752 bound for Kiev was scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am. Soon after its timely take-off from Tehran, the airliner turned into a fireball while still in air, post which it crashed to the ground. The entire episode can also be seen in a 28-second video clip taken from the ground that has been circling the social media.
In the morning of the crash, Tehran was already in a much-tensed state. Iran had fired missiles at two bases in Iraq hours before the crash.
The immediate aftermath of the crash led to confusions around the world due to little clarity about the cause of the crash. The Ukrainian and Iranian governments were also found giving confusing contradictory statements on Wednesday. The cloud of confusion cleared after Iran’s statement (on Saturday) accepting the military action taken mistakenly.
