Iran plane crash: US suspects Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 was accidentally shot down

Officials in the US and Canada now think a plane that crashed near Tehran earlier this week was accidentally shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.

Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 crashed near the Iranian capital just hours after Iran launched a series of missile strikes at US bases in neighbouring Iraq on Wednesday (NZ time). 

On Friday, footage surfaced online that appears to show the moment a missile hit the plane. The footage has been verified by The New York Times

All 176 people on board were killed in the crash, including 63 Canadians and 10 Swedes.

The crash was initially thought to have been caused by a technical problem, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said his government now believes the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile.

"We have intelligence, including from our allies and own intelligence that the plane was shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missiles," Trudeau said at a press conference. "Canadians want answers. That means transparency, accountability and justice."

He said Canada "will not rest" until it had justice.

Iran has denied the allegations.

"Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumours are illogical," said Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s of Civil Aviation Organisation.

According to CBS News, intelligence officials "picked up signals of a radar being turned on" and satellites detected two surface-to-air missiles immediately before the explosion on the plane.

Another source told CBS News missile components were found near the crash site. 

Ukraine's embassy in the Middle Eastern nation initially ruled out terrorism or a rocket strike, before rescinding the statement and saying it was too early to draw conclusions about what brought the plane down, killing all on board.

A Ukrainian official said in a statement they are investigating numerous possible causes, including:

  • being hit by an anti-aircraft missile, "as information on the detection of fragments of a Russian missile near the crash site has already appeared on the internet"
  • a collision with a drone
  • terrorists detonating a bomb on board.

"The commission includes experts involved in the international investigation into the attack of Russian servicemen on the Malaysian Boeing MH-17 on July 17, 2014 in the airspace of Ukraine, as well as in the examination of fragments of the Russian anti-aircraft missile," said National Security and Defence Council chief Oleksiy Danilov.

Canadian and Swedish authorities have been invited to take part in the investigation.

A piece of the wreckage flight 752
A piece of the wreckage. Photo credit: Getty

The US - which has no formal diplomatic relations with Iran - has not been invited, and nor has Boeing, which is headquartered in the US. There is no legal obligation for Tehran to involve Boeing, but as the manufacturer, former US Federal Aviation Administration chief of staff Michael Goldfarb told CNN it would not be much of an investigation if they were excluded.

"They have to work with Boeing. Boeing has all the data, owns all the drawings and designs, they have the engineers, they know the plane."

The black boxes, which contain vital flight data, have been recovered but they are both damaged, Abedzadeh said in his preliminary report.

"Both devices have been damaged by fire and the accident. There is the memory parts in both devices, however, physical damage is visible on them."

The crew sent no messages between whatever set the engine alight and hitting the ground.

US President Donald Trump said he has "suspicions" about what caused the crash, but denied US involvement in anything nefarious.

"Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side … not our system. It has nothing to do with us," he said.

Citizens from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Germany and the UK were also onboard the aircraft.