Boeing 737 plane crashes in Iran shortly after takeoff, killing all 180 people aboard
TEHRAN, Iran -- A Boeing 737-800 plane carrying 180 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran early Wednesday morning local time, Iranian state TV reported.
All those on board the Ukraine International Airlines flight bound for Kyiv in the Ukraine were killed, said Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s Emergency Medical Services.
The crash came just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces in retaliation for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Emergency crews were initially dispatched to the crash site but couldn't assist because the area was ablaze at the time, Koulivand said on the state-run media outlet. He said rescuers were now trying to collect the dead.
The crash site was on the southwestern outskirts of Tehran between the cities of Parand and Shahriar.
Flight data from the airport showed the plane took off, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterward. Flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 said in a tweet that the jet had been in service for about three and half years.
“An investigation team from the national aviation department was dispatched to the location after the news was announced,” Iranian civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said.
State TV reported the crash was likely due to mechanical difficulties, but did not elaborate.
Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing Co. was “aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information,” spokesman Michael Friedman said.
The crash took place just days before the company’s new CEO David Calhoun will formally take the job. Calhoun replaces Dennis Muilenburg, who was ousted in December after Boeing’s disastrous year.
The American aviation giant is still reeling from the aftermath of two 737 Max crashes, which killed 346 people. The Max has been grounded worldwide since March, and the company has struggled with delays and other issues in its bid to get the planes back in the air.
The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.
Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the grounded Boeing 737 Max. However, a number of 737-800 aircraft have also been involved in deadly accidents over the years.
In March 2016, a FlyDubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia, killing 62 onboard. Another 737-800 flight from Dubai, operated by Air India Express, crashed in May 2010 while trying to land in Mangalore, India, killing more than 150 onboard.
Boeing, like other airline manufacturers, typically assists in crash investigations. However, that effort in this case could be affected by the U.S. sanctions campaign in place on Iran since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.
Both Airbus and Boeing had been in line to sell billions of dollars of aircraft to Iran over the deal, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But Trump’s decision halted the sales.
Under decades of international sanctions, Iran’s commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly for domestic carriers in recent years, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
