A passenger jet crashed shortly after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport with 180 passengers and crew aboard, FARS, the semi-official Iranian news agency, tweeted late Tuesday.
FARS reported that the plane, flown by Ukraine International Airlines, was a Boeing 737-800.
Video posted to Twitter by Iranian news agency ISNA, which it described as the "first video of Ukrainian plane crashing near Shahriar," appeared to show a plane rapidly descending, followed by an explosion on the ground.
Ukraine International Airlines operates a daily flight from Tehran to Kyiv, PS752. Data from flight tracking service FlightRadar24 appeared to show PS752 departing from Tehran, with communication with the plane being lost approximately three minutes later. Business Insider was unable to independently verify that flight PS752 was the plane that crashed.
The plane reported to have crashed, a Boeing 737-800, is the previous generation of Boeing's 737 family of jets. The current generation, the 737 Max, has been grounded worldwide since March, 2019, following the second of two fatal crashes caused by a faulty flight control system. Both 737 Max crashes occurred within minutes of take-off.
There was no further information immediately available. There was no further detail on the suspected cause of the crash.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
نخستین ویدئو از سقوط هواپیمای اوکراینی اطراف شهریار pic.twitter.com/M3bZiLLryQ
- خبرگزاری ایسنا (@isna_farsi) January 8, 2020