Crash of a Boeing 737-8KV in Sabashahr: 176 killed

The airplane departed Tehran-Imam Khomeini Airport runway 29R at 0612LT on a regular schedule service (flight PS752) to Kiev-Borispol Airport with 176 people on board, 167 passengers and a crew of nine. Shortly after takeoff, while climbing by night, the crew was cleared to climb to FL260. Weather conditions were considered as good. While climbing to an altitude of 8,000 feet, the airplane ceased to climb and radar and radio contacts were lost. In a confused situation, the airplane entered a right turn then initiated an uncontrolled descent until it crashed and disintegrated in a field, six minutes after takeoff. The crew did not send any distress message and did not report any problems. Debris were found in Sabashahr, about 16 km north of the airport. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and post crash fire and all 176 occupants were killed. First statement from the Iranian CAO (Civil Aviation Organization) reported technical problems, maybe an uncontained failure of the right engine and a subsequent fire, for sure an unexpected catastrophic situation. Three days after the crash, in the morning of January 11, the Iranian CAO confirmed that the aircraft was unintentionally and accidentally shot down by the Iranian Armed Forces. This happened during a complex, delicate and highly tensioned situation between Iran and the United States, while Iran had just fired several ballistic missiles from Iran on two US military bases located in eastern Iraq. At the time of the accident were three pilots in the cockpit, one captain with 11,600 flying hours, one instructor with 12,000 flying hours and one first officer with 7,600 flying hours. One-hundred forty-six victims held Iranian passport, ten Afghan, five Canadian, four Swede and two Ukrainian. All nine crew members consisting of three cockpit crew and six cabin crew were Ukrainian.