In a huge turn of event, the US media has reported that one of the Iranian missiles had shot down the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, killing 176 people on board. According to CBS TV, US officials say that the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 was hit by a missile.
This came after US President Donald Trump told reporters that he too had his suspicions. “I have my suspicions – I don’t want to say that because other people have those suspicions also. It’s a tragic thing. But somebody could’ve made a mistake on the other side. It was flying in… not our system, it was nothing to do with us… it was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood and somebody could’ve made a mistake,” Trump was quoted as saying.
He added, “Some people think it was mechanical. I don’t think that’s even a question, personally.”
Earlier, the British government too said that it was looking into ‘very concerning’ reports of the Ukranian plane being hit by an Iranian missile.
Ukraine too has said that it was examining the reports that a missile brought down the plane. Iran, for its part, has denied the allegations.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau held an emergency press conference to say that ‘the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, this may well have been unintentional’ and called for a ‘thorough investigation’ into the crash. Among those killed were 63 Canadian nationals.
The Ukrainian passenger plane had crashed soon after take-off from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. The plane crash had coincided with Iran firing ballistic missiles at the US military bases in Iraq.