Jan 8, 2023, 5:50 PM

Tragic Ukrainian plane incident commemorated in south Tehran

TEHRAN, Jan. 08 (MNA) – The 3rd anniv. of unintentional downing of the Ukrainian Boeing 737 over the south of Tehran was commemorated in a ceremony on Sunday in Shahryar county with the participation of families of martyred passengers.

The Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on January 8, 2020, shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport, killing all onboard.

The incident happened at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States following the assassination of anti-terror commander Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Shortly after the incident, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that "human error" had led to the plane being shot down with two ground-to-air missiles.

During the ceremony on Sunday morning, an Iranian IRGC helicopter scattered bunches of flowers at the site of the crash.