Iran plane was most likely shot down, say experts
Doubts have been cast over Iranian claims that a plane crash near Tehran was the result of technical failures, with experts saying a "shootdown" was the most likely reason.
The Ukraine-bound Ukraine jet came down shortly after taking off from Tehran Airport in Iran this morning, killing all 176 people on board.
The tragedy came just hours after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two US bases in Iraq, sparking fears it may have been shot down by mistake.
Iran blamed "technical problems" for the incident and refused to release the black boxes to international authorities but aviation experts have suggested a "shootdown" was the most likely cause of the disaster.
The OPS group, an aviation risk monitoring group, said: "We would recommend the starting assumption to be that this was a shootdown event, similar to MH17 – until there is clear evidence to the contrary."
They highlighted pictures of the crash scene which they said "show obvious projectile holes in the fuselage and a wing section".
Aviation expert Julian Bray told Sun Online: "This is catastrophic and not the type of crash that comes from an engine failing. There would have been nothing that anyone could do.
"It is very unusual, you would expect to see some wreckage but all we can see here is debris."
