Ukrainian plane crash near Tehran due to human error

Tehran, March 18 Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) has published its final report on the January 2020 Ukrainian plane crash near Tehran, identifying "human error" as the cause of the accident.

"The plane was identified as a hostile target by the operator of an air defense system stationed around Tehran, and two missiles were fired at it," the CAO said in the preface of its 285-page report published on its official website on Wednesday.

The Boeing-737, en route from Tehran to Kiev, was shot down by two rockets shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on January 8, 2020.

The accident resulted in the deaths of all 167 passengers and nine crew members on board, who were citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, and the UK.

Later, Iran's armed forces confirmed that an "unintentional" launch of a military missile by the country was the cause of the incident.

In July 2020, the transcript of the black boxes from the plane confirmed the fact of an illegal interference with the plane.

Reacting to the CAO's findings, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday said the report was a "cynical attempt" to hide the true reasons for the downing of the plane.

( With inputs from IANS )