ELHAM SAMADI*
The Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines was carrying 176 passengers and crew. Most of the passengers were Iranian nationals but there were also foreign nationals on board.
All 144 Iranians and 32 foreigners on board died in the incident.
Here is the full text of the announcement by General Staff of the Armed Forces:
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces immediately set up a special committee comprising of technical and operation experts independent from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization to investigate the causes of the tragic incident. The results of extensive investigations carried out since the moment of the crash is offered to the Iranian nation as follows:
- Following threats made by the American president and military commanders on attacking targets on the soil of the Islamic Republic in case of Iran’s response [to the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani], and due to unprecedented movements in the region’s airspace, Iranian Armed Forces were at the utmost level of readiness and alert.
- Hours after the missile strike [of IRGC against the U.S. base], aircraft flights of U.S. terrorist forces increased near Iranian borders and also some reports of air threats against the country’s strategic centers were delivered to defense units and some targets were seen on radars which caused increased sensitivity in air defenses.
- In such sensitive and critical conditions, flight No 752 of Ukraine International Airlines departs from Imam Khomeini Airport and while changing direction, it completely resembles a hostile target approaching a sensitive center of IRGC. In these circumstances, due to human error and unintentionally, the plane was targeted which unfortunately led to the martyrdom of a host of dear compatriots and loss of lives of a number of foreign nationals.
- Offering condolences to the family of victims and expressing apologies over the human error, Iranian Armed Forces Staff assures the nation that it will make re-occurrence of such incidents impossible through conducting fundamental modifications in operations’ processes of the Armed Forces and that it will hand over the culprit to the military court so as to legally deal with the errors.
- It was also announced to related officials in IRGC to take to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and provide the nation with a detailed explanation.
End NEWS/
