OTTAWA—Canada has intelligence from multiple sources indicating a Ukrainian airliner that crashed on Wednesday near Tehran was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
US officials had earlier said the airliner was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defenses. All 176 people on board, including 63 Canadians, were killed.
"We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa.
"This may well have been unintentional. This new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation into this matter," he continued.
Trudeau said his government would not rest until it had obtained closure, transparency, accountability and justice.
He also said he had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told him that Iran would allow investigators from Kiev into the country.
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TEHRAN - A Ukrainian airliner carrying at least 170 people crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all on board, Iran state media reported.
The Boeing 737 had left Tehran's international airport bound for Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said.
"Obviously it is impossible that passengers" on flight PS-752 are alive, Red Crescent head Morteza Salimi told semi-official news agency ISNA, adding that 170 passengers and crew had boarded the plane.
State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members had boarded the aircraft, which was operated by Ukraine International Airlines.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed all those on board the plane were killed.
"According to preliminary data, all passengers and crew members are dead," he wrote on Facebook of the Ukraine International Airlines plane, which was bound for Kiev.
The Red Crescent said teams were assisted by soldiers and firefighters in the effort to recover bodies.
"After six o'clock (0230 GMT) this morning we were informed that a passenger plane crashed in the vicinity of Shahriar," said Shahin Fathi, the head of its search and rescue unit.
"All operational teams were dispatched to the area," he told state television. "Unfortunately... we haven't found anyone alive."
BODIES SCATTERED
"Everyone is helping so that we can gather all the bodies that have been scattered in a wide area," said Fathi.
Press TV, state television's English-language news broadcaster, said the plane went down in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Tehran province.
The crash was likely to have been caused by "technical difficulties", it reported, citing Ali Khashani, spokesman for Imam Khomeini International Airport.
"The plane caught fire after crashing," said Press TV.
A video aired by the state media broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire, falling from the sky.
American airline manufacturer Boeing tweeted: "We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information."
US-IRAN TENSIONS
The crash came shortly after Iran said it fired missiles at Iraqi bases in revenge for the killing of one of the Islamic republic's top military commanders in a US drone strike on Friday.
Following the missile strikes, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was banning US-registered carriers from flying over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf after rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.
"The (FAA) issues Notices to Airmen tonight outlining flight restrictions that prohibit US civil aviation operators from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman," it said in a statement.
"The FAA will continue closely monitoring events in the Middle East."
Iran launched the missiles after a US drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, a hugely popular figure who headed the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed "severe revenge" for the assassination and declared three days of mourning following the assassination which shocked the Islamic republic.
The assassination of Soleimani set off an escalating war of words between Iran and the US.
In Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani on Monday warned Trump to "never threaten" Iran, after the US leader issued a US strike list of 52 targets in the Islamic republic.
neg-burs/dv/kir
Agence France-Presse
MIAMI -- Dozens of shocked passengers were evacuated to safety from the wings of a stricken Boeing 737 on Saturday in Florida after the jet made a rough landing in a lightning storm and skidded off the runway into a river.
The plane carrying 143 people including crew from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba slammed into shallow water next to a naval air station in Jacksonville after a hard landing that saw the plane bounce and swerve down the runway, passengers said.
No fatalities or critical injuries were reported.
"As we went down... the plane bounced and screeched and bounced more and lifted to the right and then it lifted to the left," Cheryl Bormann, a defense attorney who was on board the flight, told CNN.
"And then it sort of swerved and then it came to a complete crash stop."
Some oxygen masks deployed and overhead lockers flew open during the landing, she added.
Twenty-one adults were taken to local hospitals, but none were critically injured, the Jacksonville sheriff's office said on Twitter. Others were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Captain Michael Connor, commanding officer at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, told reporters it was a "miracle" no more serious injuries or fatalities had occurred.
"We could be talking about a different story this evening, so I think there's a lot to say about, you know, the professionalism of the folks that helped the passengers off the airplane... it very well could be worse," he said.
All 136 passengers and seven aircrew on board had been accounted for, NAS Jacksonville said in a statement.
However, there were fears for a number of pet animals traveling in the plane's luggage compartment.
The pets had "not been retrieved yet due to safety issues with the aircraft," NAS Jacksonville said in an update on Facebook.
The National Transportation Safety Board said a 16-member team had arrived on site to investigate the incident, and would brief the media later in the day.
Boeing said it was aware of the incident was and providing technical assistance to the agency as it conducts its probe.
'LIGHTNING AND THUNDER'
Images showed the Miami Air International plane lying partially submerged in water after the rough landing, with its nose cone missing.
Passengers in life vests were instructed to clamber onto the wings of the jet before being transported to shore aboard inflatable life rafts, Bormann said.
"We couldn't tell where we were, a river or an ocean. There was rain coming down. There was lightning and thunder. We stood on that wing for a significant period of time," she told CNN.
Navy security and emergency response personnel including some 90 firefighters were on the scene.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry tweeted that the White House had called to offer assistance as the situation was developing.
"All alive and accounted for. Our Fire and Rescue teams are family to all," said Curry.
Teams were working to control jet fuel spilling into the St Johns River, he added.
The "Rotator" flight from the US military base in Cuba carries passengers including military personnel and family members.
The plane involved was a Boeing 737-800, in operation for 18 years, according to the FlightRadar24 website.
US aerospace giant Boeing is under scrutiny following 2 crashes that killed a total of 346 passengers and crew and grounded its newer 737 MAX planes worldwide.
Both a Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October and March's Ethiopian Airlines crash outside Addis Ababa occurred shortly after takeoff.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
A Boeing 737 commercial jet with 136 people on board slid into the St. John's River near Jacksonville, Florida after landing on Friday, a spokesperson for Naval Air Station Jacksonville said.
The mayor of Jacksonville said on Twitter that everyone on board the flight was "alive and accounted for" but that crews were working to control jet fuel on the water.
"The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for," the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said on Twitter.
The flight was arriving from Cuba, the spokesperson said.
No further details were immediately available.
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Air Transportation Director General Polana Pramesti said in a press statement that the action was taken to guarantee air safety in Indonesia.
"One of the measures will be carrying out an inspection (of all Boeing 737 MAX 8)...to ensure that the planes of that type are airworthy," Pramesti said.
If any problems are found, the jets will be grounded until the problems are settled, she added.
An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board, according to the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp.
Indonesian citizen Harina Hafitz, an employee of the Rome-based World Food Program, was among those killed in the crash, the second fatal incident involving the aircraft type in just five months.
On Oct. 29, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 belonging to Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. The plane had been put into service only in August.
Pramesti also stressed that she is continuing to cooperate with the country's National Transportation Safety Committee, Boeing Co. and global aviation institutions to keep evaluating any matters related to Lion Air flight JT610.
Indonesia has 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes, with 10 of them being operated by Lion Air and one by national carrier Garuda Indonesia.
A preliminary investigative report of the Lion Air crash released by the safety committee showed that shortly after takeoff, the plane's anti-stall mechanism was activated, apparently by incorrect sensor readings, forcing its nose down.
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SHANGHAI - An emergency descent by an Air China aircraft after oxygen levels dropped in the cabin has been linked to a co-pilot who was smoking an e-cigarette during the flight, state media said on Friday, citing China's aviation regulator.
"In the preliminary investigation, the co-pilot was found to be smoking an e-cigarette," state-owned China News said in a report, citing a news conference by the Civil Aviation Administration of China investigating Tuesday's incident.
"Smoke diffused into the passenger cabin and relevant air conditioning components were wrongly shut off, without notifying the captain, which resulted in insufficient oxygen," it added.
The Air China Boeing 737 aircraft was flying to the Chinese city of Dalian from Hong Kong, when it made an emergency descent to 10,000 feet (3,048 m), during which oxygen masks were deployed, before climbing again to continue on to its destination.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
