Ukrainian airplane shot down by mistake by Iranian anti-aircraft missile, Pentagon officials believe

[The_King]

 

The Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s international airport Wednesday was shot down by mistake by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, Pentagon officials told Fox News.

Officials said U.S. intelligence increasingly points at the airliner being accidentally struck by a Russian-made missile, killing all 176 people on board the flight, just hours after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting two military bases housing American and coalition troops.

"An absolute tragedy," one U.S. official told Fox News. "They just screwed up and it is tragic."

The revelations come as Ukrainian investigators reportedly are awaiting permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments. Iran's head of civil aviation was quoted by the ISNA News Agency as saying Thursday that "scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumors are illogical," according to Reuters. Iranian officials have blamed a technical malfunction for the aircraft’s doom.

 

 

The U.S. official told Fox News that a Russian-made SA15 missile, which is part of the Tor surface-to-air missile system, was the kind that brought down the aircraft. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1 systems to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

"A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash," Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, told Ukrainian media earlier. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information.

 

A rescue worker searches the scene where the Ukrainian plane crashed. It was heading for Kiev. (AP)

When asked Thursday about what could have happened to the Ukrainian International Airlines flight, President Trump said he didn't believe that a mechanical failure caused the plane crash.

"It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood," he said. "Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration for Wednesday's downing included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was less than four years old.

 

A TOR-M2/SA-15 Gauntlet tactical surface-to-air missile system -- similar to the one the U.S. believes mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane in Iran Wednesday -- is seen in Moscow. (AP/Sputnik)

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

Newsweek was the first to report that the plane was mistakenly shot down by missiles.

RUSSIAN MISSILE STRIKE EYED AS ONE OF MANY POSSIBLE CAUSES THAT LED TO PLANE CRASH IN IRAN: UKRAINE

Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, earlier denied a missile hit the airplane in comments reported Wednesday by the Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as "psychological warfare" by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

 

Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims at the crash site. (AP)

The incident has similarities to the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine.

All 298 passengers and crew on board flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed on July 17, 2014, when a missile shattered the Boeing 777 midair, sending debris and bodies raining down onto farms and fields of sunflowers. The jet in 2014 was shot down by a Soviet-made missile over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, about 25 miles from the Russian border, where fighting had been raging for months between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists.

Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman later told Fox News, "We are supporting the [National Transportation Safety Board] in the investigation per Annex 13 protocol." Annex 13 protocol refers to the Convention on International Civil Aviation's recommended practices for investigating aircraft incidents. The NTSB did not confirm to Fox News whether it had been asked to take part in the investigation.

US-IRAN TENSIONS: A TIMELINE OF INCIDENTS BETWEEN TWO LONGTIME RIVALS

An initial report prepared by Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said Thursday that the plane’s crew never made a radio call for help and was trying to turn back for the airport when it went down.

The Ukrainian International Airlines flight took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, after nearly an hour's delay, from Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though “no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations,” the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

US DEFENDS SOLEIMANI KILLING AS ‘SELF-DEFENSE’

 

Rescue workers inspect the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday. (AP)

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. Flight-tracking data for the plane stopped before the crash, which occurred in the town of Shahedshahr to the northeast of the plane's last reported position.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

But the report also confirmed that both of the “black boxes” that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory were lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

"We insist Iran give us full access to the investigation and to the materials of the investigation and I call on everyone to avoid any speculations," Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's deputy minister for foreign affairs, said Thursday.

Oleksandr Zaporozhchenko, a mechanic with the Ukraine International Airlines in 2016-2018, said he knew one of the crew members of the plane and had never heard any complaints about the aircraft.

 

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of the Iranian capital of Tehran, on Wednesday. (AP)

 

“It is one the most reliable planes out there,” Zaporozhchenko told The Associated Press.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kiev after visiting with family during the winter break.

 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukrainian-airplane-shot-down-by-mistake-by-iranian-anti-aircraft-missile-pentagon-officials-believe

[meng.huat]

This canada govt is useless. anyhow give statement.

 

 yesterday's report and today's report in CNA, totally opposite .

Western intelligence agencies see no signs Ukraine airliner was shot down

OTTAWA: The initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies is that a Ukrainian airliner which crashed in Iran on Wednesday (Jan 8) was not brought down by a missile, said a Canadian security source.

The source, who declined to be identified, said the agencies believed the Boeing 737 plane had suffered a technical malfunction. The Ukraine International Airline jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

 

The disaster occurred shortly after Iran launched a series of missile attacks against two military bases in Iraq that housed US troops.

"The initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies is that the plane was not brought down by a missile. There is no evidence to suggest that," said the source.

The agencies believe the most likely cause of the crash was a malfunction, the source added, saying there was some evidence one of the plane's engines had overheated.

Boeing said it had no additional comment. Earlier, the company said it was in contact with the airline and was ready to assist.

 

In July 2014 a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine during a rebellion by Russian-backed separatists, killing all 298 people on board.

Source: Reuters

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/western-intelligence-agencies-see-no-signs-ukraine-airliner-was-12245302

 

Iran likely downed Ukraine airliner with missiles: Canada's Trudeau, citing intelligence

OTTAWA: A Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was likely brought down by an Iranian missile, Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said on Thursday, citing intelligence from Canadian and other sources.

Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa that the destruction of the airliner "may well have been unintentional." 

The flight was on its way to Kiev from Tehran early on Wednesday, with 63 Canadians among the passengers and crew.

"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," he said.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines plane occurred shortly after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two US military bases in Iraq, and Iranians were on high alert for a US military response.

Earlier on Thursday, a US official, citing an extensive review of satellite data, said Washington had concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane. The official said the Boeing 737-800 had been tracked by Iranian radar.

Washington believed the plane was most likely brought down accidentally, two US officials said.

The data showed the plane was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected, one of the officials said.

That was quickly followed by an explosion in the vicinity of the plane, this official said. Heat signature data then showed it on fire as it went down.

Iran denied that the airliner had been hit by a missile, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a statement.

"All these reports are a psychological warfare against Iran ... all those countries whose citizens were aboard the plane can send representatives and we urge Boeing to send its representative to join the process of investigating the black box," he said.

Iran's head of civil aviation denied reports that Iran was to blame as "illogical rumours."

"Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumours are illogical," the semi-official ISNA News Agency quoted Ali Abedzadeh as saying.

"We are calling on the Canadian Prime Minister and any other government that has information about the crash to hand it over to the investigation committee in Iran," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he had a terrible feeling about the downed airliner, but offered no details. He said he did not believe it was a mechanical issue.

"It's a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake - on the other side," Trump said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement: "There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional."

He reiterated the call for "all sides urgently to de-escalate to reduce tensions in the region".

The US Federal Aviation Administration had banned US carriers from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the hours after Iran's attack on US-led forces in Iraq. Several other airlines also diverted flights.

Boeing and the FAA declined to comment on the missile reports on Thursday, as did the Pentagon. Spokeswomen for Ukraine's president and prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boeing is still reeling from two deadly crashes of 737 MAX planes in five months that led to the plane's grounding in March 2019. The 737-800 that crashed was built in 2016 and is the prior generation of the 737 before the MAX. Boeing has built about 5,000 of those planes, which have a good safety record.

Boeing shares rose on Thursday.

The FAA had banned US carriers from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the hours after Iran's attack on US-led forces in Iraq. Several other airlines also diverted flights.

Riki Ellison, a defence expert and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the radar signature of a Boeing airliner would have been quite similar to a large US military transport plane.

"They (the Iranians) were on full alert to shoot down anything that resembled a US aircraft. Somebody made a mistake by identifying it as a warplane," Ellison said.

Once the missiles were fired, it would have been impossible to divert them, even if the ground operators realized their error, he said. "Once you shoot those things, it’s over".

Source: Reuters/nh

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/iran-downed-ukraine-plane-missiles-canada-trudeau-12248668