Chinelo Obogo
 
A Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane crashed after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board according to the Iranian Students News Agency, a state-run media agency. 
 
The victims are from seven countries and they include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister.
 
The plane caught fire after it crashed earlier on Wednesday morning, preventing emergency personnel from accessing it immediately.
 The entire tail section of the aircraft  broke off, and structures from the plane looked burned.
 
Ukraine International Airlines released a statement Wednesday confirming that its flight PS752, operating to Kiev, disappeared from radars a few minutes after its departure from the Iranian capital.
 
The flight departed Tehran International Airport at 6:10 a.m., the statement said.
 
It added that the plane was a Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, registration UR-PSR, and “was built in 2016 and delivered directly to the airline from the manufacturer.”
 
The airline has suspended all its flights to Tehran until further notice.
 
Ukraine International Airlines expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the crash and will do everything possible to support them, the statement said. 
 
The airline also confirmed that the plane disappeared from radars a few minutes after its departure from the Iranian capital.
 
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart, Vadym Prystaiko, on Wednesday offering his condolences “about the Ukrainian plane that crashed,” Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement.
 
Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority has set up a team to investigate the crash while the Ukrainian embassy ruled out terror attack, says engine failure caused crash.
 
“According to preliminary information, the plane crashed due to an engine malfunction. The version of the terrorist attack or rocket attack is currently excluded,” the statement on its website read. 
 
The plane crash that killed 176 people outside Tehran earlier today is just the latest in a series of deadly aviation incidents that have taken place in Iran. 
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky  will break off his trip to Oman to return to Kiev to deal with the plane crash, according to his official Twitter account.