After two days of attributing a domestic plane bound for Ukraine’s crash to a “mechanical failure“, the nation of Iran has made a shocking revelation.
The state media issued an official military statement that revealed that their forces “unintentionally” shot the flight down.
As the world grieves for 176 innocent lives lost, let’s take a closer look at the events that led up to this tragedy.
A Boeing 737-800 passenger flight bound for Ukraine crashed mysteriously on Wednesday (8 Jan). The plane carried 176 people in total – 167 international passengers & 9 crew members – all hailing from Canada, Iran & Ukraine.
When the news broke, the crash was attributed to a technical fault that wasn’t linked to Iran’s airstrike on 2 US military bases in Iraq, a few hours earlier.
Iran had made this move “in retaliation” for the US-linked assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
On Friday (10 Jan), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for an urgent press conference with the media.
Seeking redress for 57 Canadian victims of the crash, he cited “multiple sources” informing their intelligence that the domestic plane was in fact shot down by an “Iranian surface-to-air missile“.
Fast forward to Saturday (11 Jan), Iran has now apologised for the incident which occurred “unintentionally”.
In the statement, Iran claimed that its military mistook the plane for a “hostile target” after the flight allegedly made a turn towards a military centre.
Due to heightened tensions with the US, the domestic plane was “unintentionally” shot down. The crash eventually killed all 176 people onboard.
Citing “human error”, Iran’s military offered its apologies for the tragedy.
They also promised to bring those behind the strike to justice, and to upgrade their systems to prevent future “mistakes”.
We recall a similar case in 2014 where a Buk missile – allegedly originating from Russia – downed Malaysian flight MH17 bound for Kuala Lumpur, a case that hit a death toll of 298 passengers and crew.
For history to repeat itself – with a domestic plane carrying regular citizens going down in peace time – is nothing short of a tragedy.
We offer our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and hope that those behind the incident will face due justice.
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Featured image adapted from The Independent UK & Times Of India.
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