All 170 people on board a passenger plane were killed when the aircraft crashed a few minutes after taking off from Iran's Imam Khomeini on Wednesday, January 8, due to technical snags. The plane was bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines took off at 6.12 am local time and crashed about eight minutes later.
"The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue... we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site," Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, told state television.
According to air tracking service FlightRadar24, the aircraft that crashed was Flight PS 752 and was flying to Kyiv. The plane was three years old and was a Boeing 737-NG, it said.
No official word from Ukraine airlines
There was no official word from Ukraine International Airlines.
Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, told state television that the number of passengers on board the flight was 170.
IRNA said according to preliminary information "the plane was bound for Kiev ... and had 180 passengers and crew."
Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the company was aware of media reports of a plane crash in Iran and was gathering more information.
(With Reuters inputs)
