A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, January 8. All 176 people on board died.
According to Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko, the victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British citizens.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were supposed to catch a connecting flight to Canada, with many being students traveling back to school after the Christmas holidays.
The reasons behind the deadly crash are being investigated.
UIA's vice president of operations Ihor Sosnovsky issued a statement, excluding a possibility of error. "Tehran airport is anything but a simple one. Therefore, for several years UIA has been using this airport to conduct training on Boeing 737 aircraft aimed at evaluating pilots' proficiency and ability to act in emergency cases. According to our records, the aircraft ascended as high as 2,400 meters. Given the crew's experience, error probability is minimal. We do not even consider such a chance," he said.
The crash happened on the same night Iran attacked two American military bases in Iraq, which served as a retaliation for the death of Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani.