A team of rescuers of the State Emergency Situations Service of Ukraine have returned to Ukraine from Iran after works on the crash scene of Ukraine International Airlines’ (UIA) jetliner.
“Our people are home. Rescuers of the State Emergency Situations Service have returned from Iran,” the service said on Facebook.
As reported, a Boeing 737-800 operated by UIA and traveling from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on January 8, killing all 167 passengers and 9 crewmembers on board.
Fatalities included 11 citizens of Ukraine (two passengers and nine crewmembers), 82 citizens of Iran, 63 of Canada, ten of Sweden, four of Afghanistan, and three citizens each of Germany and the United Kingdom.
On January 11, Iran took responsibility for downing the airliner, saying its military accidentally shot the plane down with a surface-to-air missile. Later, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh claimed full responsibility for the Ukrainian plane crash.
On January 12, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov said that said that the plane of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry that airlifted a group of Ukrainian experts to Tehran on January 8 for investigating the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines flight will return to Ukraine upon the completion of all procedures and with bodies with the deceased Ukrainians onboard.
According to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, the group of Ukrainian experts that arrived in Iran included 15 rescuers, four investigators and three experts from the Interior Ministry.
