A Ukrainian Boeing-737 passenger airline has mysteriously crashed in Iran just moments after takeoff on Wednesday. Iranian officials say that there is no chance of locating survivors reports the BBC.
Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 to Kyiv exploded following taking off from Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran at 06:12 local time (02:42 GMT).
#BREAKING: A Ukrainian passenger plane crashed in #Iran with 180 passengers. No survivors. pic.twitter.com/q5mhkemXmV
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) January 8, 2020
Most of the passengers were from Iran and Canada. Iran has also refused to hand over the black boxes.
Ukraine’s Tehran embassy initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement.
Several hours before that happened, the Ukraine announced that they have quit the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
The decision was greenlighted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Founded in 1975, the 25-country committee seeks “to enable Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination … the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced.”
But it has historically supported anti-Israel resolutions.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry lauded the move to leave the “anachronistic anti-Israeli” committee.
“We urge other committee members to follow suit. What are you still doing there???” tweeted the ministry.
We congratulate #Ukraine for ceasing its membership in the #UN‘s anachronistic anti-Israeli #CEIRPP – “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People”.
We urge other committee members to follow suit. What are you still doing there??? pic.twitter.com/qco1QctCpw
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) January 6, 2020
The American Jewish Committee also approved of the decision.
“Ukraine has recognized the true nature of this U.N. body and acted laudably by withdrawing its membership,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “The CEIRPP uses precious U.N. resources to promote an agenda that does nothing to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace or improve the living conditions of Palestinians. Quite the contrary. Its very existence only serves to perpetuate the conflict and convince the Palestinians to avoid the negotiating table with Israel, the only venue to resolve the conflict.”
Breaking Israel News contributed to this article
