https://avherald.com/h?article=4d1aea51&opt=0
Iran's Civil Aviation Authority CAO reported the aircraft was handed off by ATC at about 06:18L near Tehran when it fell to the ground. Initial reports indicate all occupants have been killed in the impact. Iran's Accident Investigation Board has dispatched investigators on site. Most occupants were Irani citizens, a number of occupants were citizens of other nations.
Iran's Emergency Services reported no survivors were found by rescue and recovery units dispatched to the crash site.
Ukraine's Embassy to the Iran tweeted that UIA confirmed their aircraft crashed near Tehran Airport after takeoff. According to first information all occupants have been killed. A task force and a hotline for relatives has been set up. The Embassy subsequently added a statement on their website stating: "According to preliminary information from the Iranian side, the plane crashed due to an engine failure due to technical reasons. The version of the terrorist attack or rocket attack is currently excluded." All 9 crew were Ukrainian citizens. At around 08:20Z on Jan 8th 2020 the embassy entirely withdrew their message on their website and replaced it with a travel warning for Iran. On their Twitter feed the Embassy reported according to passenger manifest the aircraft carried 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians (including 9 crew), 10 Swedish citizens, 4 Afghanistan citizens, 3 Germans and 3 British citizens (176 occupants). The embassy later reinstated their earlier, withdrawn message however without the sentence regarding the engine failure, now stating instead: "Information on the causes of the plane crash is clarified by the accident investigation commission. Any statements regarding the causes of the accident before the commission decision are not official."
Iran's Accident Investigation Board reported all their investigators are out to investigate the crash. The crew did not transmit any emergency call and did not indicate any problems. The aircraft crashed about 5 minutes after departure. In the evening the AIB reported the black boxes have not yet been located.
In the late evening the chairman of Iran's CAO reported the black boxes have been located. Iran will not send the black boxes to the USA (NTSB or Boeing) for read out and will not permit the participation of US authorities in the investigation. Investigators from the Ukraine are welcomed however. It is not yet clear where the black boxes will be sent to for read out and analysis.
In a reaction the U.S. Department of State pledged to provide full support for the investigation to the Ukrainian Authorities.
Iran's states news agency IRNA reports 147 occupants were Irani citizens, 32 occupants were citizens of other countries (editorial note: this is 3 people more than the official passenger and crew count released by CAO).
On Jan 9th 2020 Iran's AIB released a brief first report in Persian stating the aircraft began taxi for departure at 06:05L, commenced takeoff at 06:12L and in contact with Imam Khomeini Tower was cleared to climb to FL260. At 06:18L the aircraft climbed through 8000 feet, when the aircraft disappeared from radar, no radio message was received from the aircraft afterwards. Until that point the aircraft had been heading westwards, subsequently it made a right turn as if turning back to the airport due to a technical problem, but impacted ground on that way. A huge explosion occurred as result of impact with the ground. Initial contact with the ground was in a park area, several more collisions with the ground occurred as the aircraft broke up and spread along its trajectory. The ELT activated. All occupants, 167 passengers and 9 crew, perished in the crash, 146 of the passengers held Iranian passports (including those holding multiple citizenships). Witnesses on the ground as well as flight crews at altitude observing the aircraft reported the aircraft was on fire. Both cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found with impact and fire damage, the memory units are available however also show physical damage on main parts. The AIB sent initial notifications of the accident to Ukraine as country of registration and operation of the aircraft, to the USA as manufacturer, Sweden and Canada as applicants whose nationals were involved in the accident. The AIB requested the Ukraine to participate in the investigation. In accordance with the Chicago Convention the Iranian AIB invites all states, that are recognized as participants into the accident investigation by this document, to accredit representatives. A team of Ukrainian experts are already being dispatched to Iran.
Local residents videotaped an aircraft, presumably the UIA Boeing 737-800, while climbing out of Tehran, losing height and impacting ground. The voice on the video says he was in Ferdowsi Quarter of Shahriah (approx. position N35.5973 E51.0239 about 4nm southsouthwest of Shahriah), the aircraft was on fire (which obviously prompted the person to start filming), following some expressions of fear and asking for divine support for the people the voice states he now needed to call the fire department. The approximate position of the filmer is about 5nm northwest of the crash site.
There are photos circulating on the Internet, mainly via Iranian Student News Agency ISNA, who appear to show aircraft parts with Shrapnell holes similiar to MH-17, see Crash: Malaysia B772 near Donetsk on Jul 17th 2014, aircraft was shot down from separatist controlled ground. An original photos produced by Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press at high resultion (3500x2333 pixel) reveals however, that the "punctures" are the result of stones on the part of the fuselage and their shadows. As an exception we make the original large photo availabe via a click at the usual image (width 750 pixel) in the photo section.
The point of first ground impact is at position N35.5625 E51.1033, the field of debris expands south of that location - which suggests, the aircraft had turned around and was moving in the direction of the airport again.
Severe tensions developed between the USA and Iran following a drone strike on Jan 3rd 2020 against an Irani military leader in Baghdad (Iraq) on the order by the president of the USA, the Iran began counter strikes firing missiles against US military bases in the evening of Jan 7th 2020.