Ukrainian airplane crash in Iran leaves 170 passengers, crew members dead



TEHRAN:All 170 passengers and crew members travelling through Ukrainian passenger airplane that crashed in Iran have been killed, Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday.

As per details, Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed due to technical problems after take-off from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport.



The plane was bound for the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

The plane crashed in the Tehran suburb of Parand, which is to the immediate northwest of the airport.

“The plane caught fire but soon after it crashed.  Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency services said the teams have been sent to the place of incident. He had pinned hope to save some passengers, but unfortunately all are reported dead.

Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told state television that the number of passengers on board the flight was 170.

According to air tracking service FlightRadar24, the plane that crashed was Flight PS 752 and was flying to Kiev. The plane was three years old and was a Boeing 737-NG, it said.

Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the company was aware of media reports of a plane crash in Iran and was gathering more information.


List of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737

  • July 19, 1970 – United Airlines Flight 611, a new 737-200 (registration N9005U "City of Bristol") was damaged beyond economical repair after an aborted take off at Philadelphia International Airport. During take off, a loud "bang" was heard, and the aircraft veered right. The captain aborted the take off, and the aircraft ran off the end of the runway, stopping 1634 feet past its end, in a field. There were no fatalities. This was the first, non-fatal, accident involving a 737.[3]
  • July 5, 1972 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 was hijacked by two men who demanded $800,000 and that they be taken to the Soviet Union. In San Francisco, the aircraft was stormed and the two hijackers were killed along with one passenger.[4]
Remnants of United Airlines Flight 553 at December 1972 crash site, the first fatal accident for a 737
  • December 8, 1972 – United Airlines Flight 553, a 737-200 registration N9031U, crashed while attempting to land at Chicago Midway International Airport. Two people on the ground and 43 of the 61 passengers and crew on board were killed. This was the first fatal accident involving a 737.[5]
  • May 31, 1973 – Indian Airlines Flight 440, a 737-200, crashed while on approach to Palam International Airport in New Delhi, India. Of the 65 passengers and crew on board, 48 were killed.[6]
  • December 17, 1973 – In the wake of the events surrounding Pan Am Flight 110, a parked Lufthansa 737–100 (registered D-ABEY) was hijacked at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome. Two pilots and two flight attendants were on board preparing the aircraft for departure to Munich when five Palestinian terrorists entered the aircraft with ten Italian hostages taken from the airport. The crew were then forced to fly the aircraft to Athens and then on to several other airports, until the ordeal ended at Kuwait International Airport the next day, where the hijackers surrendered.[7][8]
  • March 31, 1975 – Western Airlines Flight 470, a 737-200 (registration N4527W) overshot a runway coated with snow at Casper/Natrona County International Airport in Casper, Wyoming in the United States. Four of the 99 aboard were injured, and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
  • October 13, 1977 – Lufthansa Flight 181 was hijacked by four Palestinians, who demanded the release of seven Red Army Faction members in West German prisons and $15,000,000. The captain was fatally shot. On October 17, members of West Germany's GSG-9 stormed the aircraft and killed three of the hijackers, capturing the other.[9]
  • December 4, 1977 – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653, a 737-200 registration 9M-MBD, crashed following a phugoid oscillation that saw the aircraft diving into a swamp after both its pilots were shot following a hijacking attempt. The crash happened in the Southern Malaysian state of Johor. A total of 93 passengers and seven crew were killed.
  • February 11, 1978 – Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a 737-200, crashed while attempting to land at Cranbrook Airport, British Columbia, Canada. The aircraft crashed after thrust reversers did not fully stow following a go-around that was executed in order to avoid a snowplow. The crash killed four of the crew members and 38 of the 44 passengers.[10]
  • April 26, 1979 – An Indian Airlines 737-200 was damaged by a bomb that detonated in the forward lavatory. The aircraft made a flapless landing in Chennai, India.[11]
  • November 4, 1980 – TAAG Angola Airlines 737-200 registration D2-TAA, that landed short of the runway at Benguela Airport, slid some 900 m following the collapse of the gear; a fire broke out in the right wing but there were no reported fatalities. The aircraft caught fire again during recovery operations the next day and was written off.[12][13]
  • May 2, 1981 – Aer Lingus Flight 164, a 737-200, was hijacked en route from Dublin Airport, Ireland to London's Heathrow Airport, UK. While on approach to Heathrow, about five minutes before the flight was due to land, a 55-year-old Australian man went into the toilet and doused himself in petrol.[14] He then went to the cockpit and demanded that the aircraft be diverted to Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport in France, and refuel there for a flight to Tehran, Iran.[15][16] Upon landing at Le Touquet and after an eight-hour standoff (during which time 11 of 112 hostages were released),[17] French special forces stormed the aircraft and apprehended hijacker Lawrence Downey. No shots were fired and nobody was injured.[18]
  • August 22, 1981 – Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103, a 737-200 (registration B-2603) broke apart in mid-air and crashed 14 minutes after taking off from Taipei Songshan Airport in Taiwan. All 6 crew and 104 passengers were killed.[19]
  • January 13, 1982 – Air Florida Flight 90, a 737-200, crashed in a severe snowstorm, immediately after takeoff from Washington National Airport, hitting the 14th Street Bridge and fell into the ice-covered Potomac River in Washington, D.C. All but five of the 74 passengers and five crew members died; four motorists on the bridge were also killed.[20]
  • May 25, 1982 – VASP 737-200 registration PP-SMY, made a hard landing and touched down on its nose gear first at Brasília in rainy conditions. The gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded off the runway breaking in two. Two passengers out of 118 occupants died.[21]
  • August 26, 1982 – Southwest Air Lines (JTA) Flight 611, a 737-200 (registration JA8444) overran the runway at Ishigaki Airport in Japan and was destroyed. There were no fatalities but some were injured during the emergency evacuation.[22]
  • March 27, 1983 – LAM Mozambique Airlines 737-200 registration C9-BAB. Undercarriage failure after landing some 400 metres (1,300 ft) short of the runway at Quelimane Airport. There were no fatalities.[23]
  • July 11, 1983 – TAME 737-2V2 Advanced, registration HC-BIG, crashed while attempting to land at Mariscal Lamar Airport, killing all 111 passengers and eight crew on board. The cause of the crash was a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) as a result of the pilot's inexperience with the aircraft. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in Ecuadorean history.[24][25][26] after a radio station reported witnesses to a mid-air explosion.[27]
  • September 23, 1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771, a 737-200 (registration A40-BK) crashed after a bomb exploded in the baggage compartment causing it to stall and come down in the desert, near Mina Jebel Ali between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. All 5 crew and 107 passengers were killed.[28][29]
  • November 8, 1983 – TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462 stalled and crashed shortly after taking off from Lubango Mukanka Airport in Angola resulting in the deaths of all its 130 occupants (126 passengers and 4 crew) on board. Local guerilla force UNITA claimed it had brought the aircraft down with a surface-to-air missile.[30][31]
  • February 9, 1984 – TAAG Angola Airlines 737-200 registration D2-TBV, that departed from Albano Machado Airport operating a scheduled passenger service, suffered hydraulic problems following an explosion in the rear of the aircraft and returned to the airport of departure for an emergency landing. The aircraft touched down fast and overran the runway.[32]
  • March 22, 1984 – Pacific Western Airlines Flight 501, a 737-200 regularly scheduled flight that caught fire in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Five people were seriously injured and 22 suffered minor injuries, but no-one was killed.
  • August 30, 1984 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 786, a 737-200 (registration TJ-CBD) caught fire as the aircraft was taxiing out for takeoff at Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon. 107 of 109 passengers and two crew were reported to have survived.[33]
  • November 23, 1985 – Egyptair flight 648 737-200 was hijacked by 3 Palestinian men en route to Cairo international airport from Athens. The plane was ordered to land in Malta by the hijackers. Later the Egyption commandos raided the aircraft and during the raid 60 passengers died including 3 hijackers and 38 survived including 1 hijacker.
  • June 21, 1985 – Braathens SAFE Flight 139, a 737-200 that was hijacked at the Trondheim Airport in Værnes, Norway. The aircraft was stormed and the hijacker arrested.
  • August 22, 1985 – British Airtours Flight 28M, a 737-200, aborted its takeoff at Manchester Airport, UK, after it caught fire due to a crack in one of the combustors of the left Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engine. Of the 136 passengers and crew on board, 56 died, most due to toxic smoke inhalation. Research following the accident investigation led to many innovations in air safety, including a redesign of the 737's galley area.[34]
  • January 28, 1986 – VASP 737-200 registration PP-SME, tried to take-off from a taxiway at São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport. The take-off was aborted, but the aircraft overran the pavement, collided with a dyke and broke in two. The weather was foggy. There was one fatality.[35]
  • October 15, 1986 – Iran Air 737-200 registration EP-IRG was attacked by Iraqi aircraft. Passengers were disembarking at the time of the attack. According to Iranian authorities some C-130 Hercules aircraft were also destroyed. Three occupants were killed.[36]
  • December 25, 1986 – Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a 737-200 that was hijacked and crashed, catching fire near Arar in Saudi Arabia. There were 106 people on board, and 60 passengers and 3 crew members died.
  • August 4, 1987 – LAN Chile 737-200 registration CC-CHJ, landed short of the displaced threshold of runway 27 at El Loa Airport, Chile. The nosegear collapsed and the aircraft broke in two. A fire broke out 30 minutes later and destroyed the aircraft. The threshold was displaced by 880m due to construction work. There was one fatality.[37]
  • August 31, 1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365, a 737-200 (registration HS-TBC) crashed into the sea off Ko Phuket, Thailand. A total of 74 passengers and 9 crew on board lost their lives.[38]
  • January 2, 1988 – Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782, a 737-200 on a charter flight, crashed in Serefsihar near Izmir, Turkey, due to ILS problems. All 11 passengers and 5 crew were killed in the accident.
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 after its emergency landing at Kahului, Maui in April 1988