“The fire spread through the fuselage”: a preliminary report on the crash of a Ukrainian plane in Iran was published

A crash in Tehran passenger plane Boeing 737-800 "Ukraine International Airlines" (UIA) caught fire before a collision with the ground. This was reported in the preliminary report of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, whose commission is investigating the disaster of flight PS752.

“According to eyewitnesses, the fire was visible on the plane and spread over its fuselage,” the document says.

It also follows from the published report that the pilots of the crashed airliner did not report any abnormal situation on board.

In addition, Iranian experts note that the aircraft changed the direction of flight after the crew discovered a problem. It is noted that the pilots tried to send Boeing back to Tehran airport, however, as a result, the airliner collided with the ground.

The preliminary report was sent to Ukraine as the country in which the aircraft was registered, to the United States as the manufacturer of the aircraft, as well as Canada and Sweden, whose subjects were on board.

In Ukraine, January 9 was declared a day of mourning in connection with the plane crash in Iran. In a statement published by the press service of the Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, it was noted that 45 Ukrainian specialists arrived in Tehran last night as part of a search and rescue group.

Among them are employees of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine, the National Bureau of Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Incidents with Civil Aircraft, and representatives of UIA, who must join the commission.

The office of the President of Ukraine expressed the hope that all Ukrainian experts will work together with Iranian investigators and take part in decoding the records of black boxes.

The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said that experts immediately upon arrival in Iran began to study the circumstances of the crash. It is expected that information on the results of the work will be promptly made available to the public.

Later, the NSDC secretary Aleksey Danilov, in a commentary to Censor.NET, * stated that, among possible versions of the disaster, the agency is considering the defeat of an airplane by an air defense missile and the collision of a liner with an unmanned aerial vehicle or other flying object. Also among the main versions are the destruction and explosion of the engine for technical reasons and the detonation inside the aircraft as a result of a terrorist attack.

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Recall that on the morning of January 8, shortly after departure from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, the Boeing 737-800 of Ukraine International Airlines crashed. There were 167 passengers and nine crew members aboard PS752, none of whom survived.

According to the latest information, 82 passengers were Iranian citizens, 63 were from Canada, ten from Sweden, four from Afghanistan, three from the UK and Germany, and two from Ukraine. Another nine dead Ukrainians were included in the crew of the liner.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a special press conference said that Ottawa was ready to provide "substantial assistance in the investigation" of the crash of Boeing. According to him, Canadian experts have a high level of knowledge regarding major air crashes.

Trudeau added that although Ottawa and Tehran currently do not have diplomatic relations, consular groups are now preparing to be sent to Iran for appropriate negotiations.

The management of UIA announced that the ship was fully operational and doubted the likelihood of a mistake on the part of the crew. “We guarantee the flight serviceability of all our aircraft and the high qualifications of all crews,” TASS quotes company president Eugene Dychne. According to him, the crashed "plane was one of the best," and the liner was serviced on January 6.

Amid a plane crash, Ukrainian airlines were banned from flying through the airspace of Iran and Iraq due to the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the escalation of the confrontation between the US and Iran.

“By the decision of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, flights to Ukrainian airlines in the airspace of Iran and Iraq were prohibited from 00:00 01/01/2020 - until the causes of the crash of the UIA plane that operated on flight PS752 are clarified," the state-owned enterprise UkSATSE said in a statement.

For safety reasons, airlines in a number of countries have also changed their routes in the airspace over Iran and Iraq. The Federal Air Transport Agency also prepared a corresponding recommendation, specifying as an argument “information on the existing risks to the safety of international flights of civil aircraft”. Russian companies announced the preparation of alternative routes bypassing these areas.

Also, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed a number of departments and special services to analyze the security threats to Russians in the Middle East.

“Assess the threats to the security of Russian citizens in the Middle East region, including in the Persian and Oman gulfs, taking into account various scenarios for the development of the situation,” the prime minister said.

Proposals for measures to ensure the safety of Russians within the competence of the government should be submitted as soon as possible.

* “Censor.NET” - an Internet resource whose materials are recognized as extremist and banned on the territory of Russia (decision of the Kirovsky District Court of Volgograd on 09/04/2015).