(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –A passenger plane carrying 180 people bound for the Ukrainian capital Kiev has crashed a few minutes after taking off from Tehran’s main international airport, Iranian media reports say.
The Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines took off from Imam Khomeini international airport at 6.12am Tehran time and went down about eight minutes later, according to flight tracking websites.
Early indications suggested the crash did not appear to have links to Wednesday morning’s missile strikes on bases in Iraq hosting US and coalition troops.
A video purportedly of the crash circulated by the ISNA news agency showed the aircraft burning as it fell from the sky.
