A Ukrainian airliner was on
fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran killing all 176 on board, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators.
The Ukrainian International Airlines
Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport.
The report by Iran's civil aviation organization cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at high altitude as saying the plane was on fire while still aloft.