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A PLANE with 176 people on board crashed shortly after takeoff at an airport in the Iranian capital of Tehran - leaving no survivors.
Three British nationals were believed to have been on board the Ukrainian International Airlines (UAI) flight which was bound for Kyiv, Ukraine.
Rescue teams work at the scene after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. - All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8, Iranian state media reported. State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)Mechanical issues linked to engine failure have been blamed for the crash - which happened in the early hours of Wednesday morning, though the precise nature of the cause is yet to be officially determined.
The Ukrainian embassy in Iran stress that the incident has nothing to do with terrorism.
The crash comes just hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles as US forces stationed in Iraq in a retaliatory act for the killing of Iranian military general Qasem Soleimani last week.
EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Rescue teams recover debris from a field after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. - The Boeing 737 had left Tehran's international airport bound for Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said, adding that 10 ambulances were sent to the crash site. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)The vast majority of passengers were not Ukrainian nationals, security authorities in Kiev said.
Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs tweeted that the deceased include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.
An investigation has now been launched into the crash.
People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. - The Boeing 737 had left Tehran's international airport bound for Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said, adding that 10 ambulances were sent to the crash site. (Photo by Rouhollah VAHDATI / ISNA / AFP) (Photo by ROUHOLLAH VAHDATI/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)Ukrainian International Airlines said its flight from Tehran to Kyiv disappeared from radar just a "few minutes" after take-off.
In a statement on its website, UAI said: "The airline expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the air crash and will do everything possible to support the relatives of the victims."
It said the aircraft was built in 2016 and had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday.
