Ukrainian investigators are looking into several hypotheses about the accident of the Ukrainian passenger plane crashing in Iran, including the possibility of it being hit by a surface-to-air missile, terrorist operation, or engine failure, according to a Ukrainian official yesterday.
"We are currently working on seven different hypotheses regarding the accident in Iran," which resulted in the deaths of 176 people who were on board the Boeing 737, "Ukraine's Minister of National Security and Defense, Oleksy Danilov, told AFP.
Danilov said on Facebook that the hypotheses being studied include technical and practical malfunctions, but assured «France Press» that there is no more likely hypothesis than others yet.
The hypotheses include a collision with another object in the air, a missile from Iran's defense system, an engine explosion caused by a technical malfunction, and an explosion on board the aircraft as a result of "terrorist action," according to Danilov on Facebook.
He told France Press that he had no reason, until this moment, to believe that the plane had been hit by a missile strike, and stressed: "We are looking very carefully at all seven hypotheses."
Dozens of Ukrainian experts arrived in Tehran yesterday morning to participate in the investigations, according to the council.
In a related context, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelinsky, reassured the people of his country yesterday that the truth behind the Ukrainian plane crash in Iran, which killed all its passengers, will be reached "certainly". In Tehran, the first elements of the Iranian investigation showed that the Ukrainian International Airlines plane had turned back after taking off, after encountering a "problem".
And the plane disappeared from radar screens after two minutes of flight, while it reached an altitude of 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters).
The Civil Aviation Organization, which published the results of its initial investigation on its website, announced on Wednesday night, Thursday, that "the pilot did not send any message regarding abnormal conditions." She added, "According to eyewitnesses, a fire was seen on the plane, which increased in intensity."
The organization pointed out that "the plane, which was initially heading west to exit the airport (air) area, turned to the right after it encountered a problem, and was heading back to the airport" when it crashed into a park in Shahriar. Five security sources - three Americans, a European and a Canadian who asked not to be identified - told Reuters that the first assessment of Western intelligence services indicates that the plane encountered a technical failure and was not hit by a missile. The crash, which most of its passengers were of Iranian and Canadian citizenship, came shortly after Tehran fired missiles at two bases in Iraq, where American soldiers are stationed, in response to the killing by the United States of the commander of the Qods Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, General Qassim Soleimani, last week. .
The airline reported that the ill-fated Boeing 737 was manufactured in 2016 and was examined just two days before the accident.
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Various hypotheses the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine is discussing about the plane crash in Iran.