Baghdad: A Ukrainian aircraft which crashed earlier this week in Iran had flown close to a sensitive military site and was brought down due to human error, Iranian state TV reported on Saturday. The responsible parties would be held accountable, the statement read on state TV said.
The statement, released on Saturday morning, said it had done so due to a ‘human error’.
Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took to Twitter to express his condolence on the incident as he wrote, “A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”
Iran had previously rejected suggestions that one of its missiles brought down the plane near the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday. But then, the United States and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believe Iran shot down the aircraft
The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces. The plane enroute to the Ukraine capital was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from different countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians.
US media have speculated that the airliner may have been mistaken for a warplane as Iran prepared for possible US retaliation.
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