Ukraine does not know why its plane crashed
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine does not know how many citizens of this country were on board the Boeing of Ukraine International Airlines that crashed in the skies of Iran.
Maksym Kovalenko, head of the crisis management department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's consular service, announced this at a briefing in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the diplomat, the reasons for the crash of the airliner are also unknown.
“The Ukrainian Embassy in Iran promptly responded to this event. At the moment, the consul and ambassador are at the airport. They work with search and rescue services and the airport administration. We express our condolences to the families and relatives of those killed in this terrible plane crash. At the moment, legal work is being carried out, in particular related to the identification of bodies.
According to preliminary information, there were 168 passengers and nine crew members on the plane. Now the main task is to establish the likelihood of Ukrainian citizens among the dead. Now this information is being clarified,” Kovalenko said.
At the same time, the UIA airline, which owned the crashed plane, stated that the airline was suspending flights to Tehran for an indefinite period and specified the number of Ukrainian citizens: “Out of 167 passengers, two passengers are citizens of Ukraine, the remaining passengers are citizens of Canada, Iran, Germany, Sweden and Afghanistan."
Let us note that the UIA representative, speaking about the tragedy, could not hold back his tears. He also stressed that the airline's management does not know the official version that the plane was allegedly shot down by an Iranian missile.
“This is information that we do not receive from official sources. Therefore, we cannot comment on it in any way,” said the UIA representative.
He claims that the crashed Boeing was produced in 2016 and was fully operational at the time of takeoff.
As a reminder, last night, almost immediately after takeoff from Tehran airport, a Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed.
Ukraine doesn't know why its plane crashed.