Plane Crash; Ukraine Sends Investigation Team

The UN Secretary-General sent a condolence message to the families of victims of the Tehran-Kyiv flight crash. The US Secretary of State also expressed sympathy with the survivors of this accident. Ukraine and Canada are seeking to find the causes of the crash.

The Iranian government declared Thursday, December 19 (January 9) as a national mourning day due to the Kerma stampede incident and the plane crash in Tehran. 59 people died in Kerman in the stampede during the funeral procession of Qasem Soleimani, and a few hours later, 176 people died in the Tehran-Kyiv flight crash.

The characteristics of the Kerman victims have not yet been announced. It was only stated that most of the victims are men and there are some children among them. Saeed Namaki, the Minister of Health, complained about how the Kerman ceremony was organized and announced that of 213 injured in the Kerman stampede, 67 have been hospitalized, some of whom are in poor condition but half of them have been discharged.

However, the complete passenger list of the Tehran-Kyiv flight has been released. Dozens of elite doctoral students in Canada, graduates of Sharif University of Technology, Amirkabir and Khajeh Nasir universities were on this flight, and most passengers were heading to Toronto. They were returning to their place of study after winter break. Children of the health minister’s advisor and family members of some other government officials were also on the plane.

The plane caught fire and crashed in the Parand township west of Tehran just six minutes after takeoff. Photos of two airplane passengers who had just gotten married three days before are circulating on social networks. One was the holder of a gold medal in the Computer Olympiad and the other was a computer science graduate from Sharif University.

The UN Secretary-General’s office released his condolence and regret message about the plane crash on Wednesday evening, January 8. Antonio Guterres expressed sympathy with the families and survivors of the plane crash victims in this message.

Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, also offered condolences to the survivors of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft accident in Tehran.

The US Secretary of State said: “The United States Department of State expresses its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the 176 passengers and crew who lost their lives in the crash of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752.”

The Boeing 737-800 of Ukraine International Airlines was only three years old, and the head of the communications and media center of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, in his initial reaction, stated that the cause of the crash was a fire in the aircraft’s engine section.

Abedzadeh, head of the Civil Aviation Organization, said the pilot had no contact with the control tower before the crash and did not declare an emergency. However, rumors were simultaneously circulated suggesting that the aircraft was mistakenly hit by an air defense missile. This rumor gained more momentum after the black box was found and Iranian authorities insisted on not handing it over to the United States.

Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, also told the ISNA news agency: “Rumors that the cause of the accident and crash of the Ukrainian 737 aircraft was terrorism, explosion, or shooting at the plane are incorrect and a technical defect caused this accident.” He added that in case of any possible shooting, the aircraft should have exploded in the sky.

Ukraine International Airlines has suspended all flights to Tehran, and Kyiv authorities have also said that the aircraft had no technical defects. Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine, ordered judicial investigations, and Boeing also announced that it would review the technical aspects of the matter.

Justin Trudeau’s Condolences

63 of the aircraft’s passengers had Canadian citizenship. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, expressed sympathy with the survivors of the victims and announced that the country’s foreign minister is in direct contact with Ukraine to follow up on the reasons for the matter. Iran and Canada have had no diplomatic relations since the country’s embassy in Tehran was closed in 2012.

Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, also announced the country’s readiness to provide any assistance in finding the cause of the aircraft crash.

According to Associated Press, Peyman Pasian, a former official of the “Edmonton Heritage Cultural Society,” wrote that 27 members of this community died in the mentioned flight. He referred to Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshvar, a professor couple at the University of Alberta, who were on the plane with their two daughters. Peyman Pasian said that currently nothing can be said about the cause of the crash and only one should remember that “one percent of Iranians living in Alberta have been killed and this is horrific.”

Initial Accident Report

On Wednesday evening, the initial report of the Ukraine Boeing accident was published in Iranian media. In this report, it was stated that no message from the flight crew about unusual conditions was transmitted and the aircraft crashed into the ground and exploded after catching fire in the sky. In this report, it was noted that the aircraft’s black boxes were found and the main memory sections of both black boxes are available: “The specialized group, after sampling and testing the site, has declared that the possibility of being hit by harmful radiation including laser rays and electromagnetic (radioactive) radiation is ruled out.”

At the end of the report, it was stated that preliminary notification was issued to Ukraine as the aircraft’s state of registry and operator, the United States as the manufacturing country, Sweden and Canada as requesting countries whose nationals were on this aircraft: “Ukraine, while requesting its presence in the accident investigation process, has taken action to introduce a group to participate in the accident investigation process, identification and transfer of the bodies of its nationals and other duties that fall under the responsibility of the registering and operating country in such circumstances, and will soon enter the country.”

Source: DW