Iran to hold national mourning over Ukrainian plane crash, stampede at Soleimani's funeral

The Iranian government has declared that they will be observing a day of national mourning on January 9 over the Ukrainian passenger plane crash and stampede at the funeral of Qassem Soleimani. 

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei condoled the families of the people who died in this incident. He took to Twitter on Wednesday to make the national mourning day announcement.  

"Government expresses condolences to the families of our compatriots who died in Kerman during the funeral ceremony of slain commander Qassem Soleimani and in a plane crash this morning, the government declared January 9 a national mourning day," Rabiei wrote on Twitter. 

Read: Ukraine International Airlines plane crashes in Tehran; all 176 aboard dead

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Ukraine plane crash  

A Ukrainian aircraft with at least 176 people aboard crashed on January 8 due to technical glitches just after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport, according to Iranian media reports. As per the reports, all 176 passengers on board the PS752 airliner have died.

A spokesperson for Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, Reza Jafarzadeh told the media that rescue teams were immediately sent to the spot near the airport where the aircraft belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed but they could not assist since the place was ablaze. 

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Plane was heading towards Kiev 

According to media reports citing Ali Kashani, a senior public relations official at the airport, the plane was heading towards Kiev and had 167 passengers and nine crew on board. The Boeing 737 took off early Wednesday morning. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Facebook post that he would cancel the rest of his trip to Oman and would return to Kiev due to the crash. “My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew,” Zelensky said. 

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