A Ukrainian airliner fell to earth in a fireball shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board in a crash that sparked an international scramble to establish the cause.
The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800, en route to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed hours after Iran fired missiles at bases housing US forces in Iraq, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit.
But five security sources – three Americans, one European and one Canadian – who asked not to be named, told Reuters the initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies was that the plane had suffered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile. There was evidence one of the jet’s engines had overheated, the Canadian source said.
