A Ukrainian passenger jet crashed near an airport in Iran's capital Tehran early Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, state media reported.
The Ukraine International Airlines jetliner crashed after one of its engines caught fire, the media said, adding that all 167 passengers and nine crew members died in the crash.
[Iranian Red Crescent/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty/Kyodo]
The Boeing 737, which was bound for Ukraine's capital Kiev, crashed shortly after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, according to the media.
The plane reportedly went down in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Tehran Province, and caught fire. The plane's flight data recorder was later recovered, Tass news agency reported.
Iranians comprised most of the passengers, but there were some non-Iranian nationals on board, according to Iranian Students' News Agency.
Data on Flightradar24, a flight-tracking website, showed a twin-engine Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukraine International Airlines as Flight 752 stopping sending data minutes after takeoff.
"We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information," Boeing Co., the airplane's manufacturer, said on Twitter.
