Ukraine passenger jet crashes in Iran, killing all 176 on board

A Ukrainian airliner carrying 176 passengers crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all on board, officials in Iran said.

The Boeing 737 had departed Imam Khomeini International Airport before dawn bound for the Ukrainian capital Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said.

It slammed into farmland at Khalaj Abad, in Shahriar county, about 45 kilometres northwest of the airport, according to reports on state media.

"Obviously it is impossible that passengers" on flight PS-752 are alive, Red Crescent head Morteza Salimi told semi-official news agency ISNA.

"Out of the 176 people who died, nine were flight crew members and the others passengers," Mohammad Taghizadeh, the deputy governor for Tehran province, told ISNA.

Seventy were men, 81 women and 15 children, he said.

"There are currently 500 medical units on the scene" gathering bodies, he added. Emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi said the vast majority of the dead were Iranian citizens.

Just two passengers and nine crew members were Ukrainian, according to Ukraine's national security council, which is overseeing a crisis team. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed all those on board the plane were killed.

"According to preliminary data, all passengers and crew members are dead," he wrote on Facebook.

The Red Crescent said teams were being assisted by soldiers and firefighters in the effort to recover bodies.

"After six o'clock (0230 GMT) this morning we were informed that a passenger plane crashed in the vicinity of Shahriar," said Shahin Fathi, the head of its search and rescue unit.

"All operational teams were dispatched to the area," he told state television. "Unfortunately... we haven't found anyone alive." - Speculation warnings -