140 Iranian citizens killed in Ukrainian airplane crash

By Trend

The number of Iranian citizens killed as a result of the Ukrainian plane crash has reached 140, said the director general of crisis management in Tehran Mansour Darajati, Trend’s special correspondent reported.

He noted that the province's crisis management staff meeting will be held in the governor's office for another hour to review the crash of the Ukrainian plane.

"Early estimates indicate the aircraft was technically defective but the exact cause requires an expert examination,” said Darajati.

“The aircraft belonged to Ukraine and had flown from Imam Khomeini International Airport to that country,” he said.

Degatati continued that equipment and facilities, including ambulances were sent to the site.

10:49 (GMT +4) - About 130 out of 167 passengers of crashed Ukrainian airplane are Iranian citizens, said Secretary of Iran's Aviation Companies Association Maghsoud Asadi Samani, Trend’s special correspondent reported.

"We do not have exact information about the identity of the dead," Samani added.

Tehran Emergency Center has said that it is very difficult to identify those who died as a result of the airplane crash.

“Rescue teams are collecting the bodies from about two hectares of land to hand them over to forensics,” said the Center.

Earlier, head of Iran’s Rescue and Relief Organization Morteza Salimi said that all passengers of the plane which crashed near the Imam Khomeini International Airport were killed.

Boeing 737 crashed near the airport of Imam Khomeini. There were 167 passengers and nine crew members on board.

Reportedly, the plane crashed due to a technical malfunction a few minutes after the takeoff.