The leaders of Canada and the UK called for a full and thorough investigation into the crash, which killed all 176 people on board.

Iran has ruled out a missile strike by its air defences.

The crash came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.

US media have speculated that the timing of the crash suggests the plane may have been mistaken for a US warplane as Iran prepared for possible US retaliation for the strikes.

CBS News quoted US intelligence sources as saying a satellite detected infrared “blips” of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion.

Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted a Pentagon and senior US intelligence officials, as well as an Iraqi intelligence official, as saying they believed Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was hit by a Russian-made Tor missile.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had “suspicions” about what happened to the plane.

Who will investigate?

Amid tensions heightened by the US killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on 3 January, Iran initially said it would not hand over the recovered black box flight recorders to Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, or to the US.

However, an Iranian official later told Reuters the US had been formally invited to take part in the investigation, and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed it had assigned an investigator.

Boeing said it would support the NTSB in the inquiry, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it had also been invited to the accident site by Tehran.

Under global aviation rules Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved.

Iranian TV pictures later in the day showed the crash site being bulldozed.

What’s been said about the possible missile strike?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had received intelligence from multiple sources indicating that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, adding that it was possible that this was unintentional.

“This reinforces the need for a thorough investigation,” he said.

“Canadians have questions and they deserve answers.”

But he said it was too early to apportion blame or draw any conclusions, and refused to go into detail about the evidence.

A total of 63 Canadians were on the flight, along with dozens of others who were expecting to fly on to Toronto from Kyiv.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed Mr Trudeau’s words and said Britain was working closely with Canada and other international partners affected by the crash.

Speaking in Canada, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said British nationals were advised not to travel to Iran, “given the body of information that UIA Flight 752 was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, and the heightened tensions”.

Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted US and Iraqi officials as saying they believed the aircraft was hit by a Russia-built Tor M-1 surface-to-air missile system.

Two Pentagon officials had assessed that the incident was accidental, Newsweek added.

It quoted sources as saying that Iran’s anti-aircraft systems were probably active following its attacks on the US airbases.

The Pentagon has so far made no public comment on the issue.

When asked what he thought had happened to the plane, President Trump answered: “I have my suspicions. It’s a tragic thing when I see that, it’s a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.”

Earlier on Thursday, Oleksiy Danylov, the secretary of Ukraine’s security and defence council, said in a Facebook post (in Ukrainian) that three other possible crash causes were being considered: a mid-air collision with a drone or other flying object; engine destruction/explosion due to technical reasons and an explosion inside the plane as a result of a terror attack.

Mr Danylov said Ukrainian investigators, who are already in Iran, wanted to search for possible debris from a missile at the site of the crash.

Iran is known to have Russian missile defence systems.

The investigation would include experts who worked on the investigation into the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, Mr Danylov added.

What does Iran say?

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation (CAOI) chief Ali Abedzadeh said: “The plane, which was initially headed west to leave the airport zone, turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash.”

Mr Abedzadeh added that witnesses saw the plane “on fire” before the crash, and that pilots had not made any distress calls before trying to return to Imam Khomeini airport.

“Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumours are illogical,” he said.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei described the reports as “psychological warfare”.

“All those countries whose citizens were aboard the plane can send representatives and we urge Boeing to send its representative to join the process of investigating the black box,” he said.

‘This would be an extraordinary error’

A pattern of disturbing indications is emerging suggesting that Flight PS752 may well have been shot down by mistake by Iran’s own air defences.

While it is not unprecedented for air defence systems in conflict zones to shoot down airliners, this would be an extraordinary error.

The aircraft had only just taken off from an international airport; it was a scheduled flight; and it should easily have been recognisable.

However, precisely what the operators of the Russian-supplied, Soviet-era Tor – or SA-15/Gauntlet system as it is known by Nato – would have seen is unclear.

All this is hugely embarrassing for the Iranian authorities and is only going to complicate the politics involved in getting to the bottom of this tragedy.

What do we know?

Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 to Kyiv had 167 passengers and nine Ukrainian crew on board.

The majority of passengers were from Iran and Canada.

There was good visibility when the plane went down near Iran’s capital, according to the Flightradar24 aviation website.

Officials from the airline said the crew were experienced.

Among the victims were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians including all nine crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, four Britons and three Germans, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said.

Fifteen of the dead were children.

But the German government later said “we currently have no knowledge that German citizens are among the victims of the plane crash in Iran”.

Iran’s head of emergency operations said 147 of the victims were Iranian.

That would suggest that 65 of the foreign nationals had dual nationalities. The Ukrainian airline gave a helpline number for further information about passengers: +38-044-581-50-19.

Source: Reuters

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The Antonov plane was travelling from the city of El Geneina – located in the west of Sudan, near the border with Chad – to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash.

The aircraft was transporting people injured in a tribal conflict in Darfur to Khartoum for treatment.

The plane’s crew comprised three Sudanese army officers.

It was not immediately clear how many people the plane had been transporting.

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They say the Bek Air aircraft went down shortly after taking off at Almaty airport on Friday morning local time, smashing into a building.

At least 60 injured people, including children, were taken to hospitals.

Flight Z92100 was en route from Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, to the capital Nur-Sultan.

A Reuters reporter close to the scene said there was heavy fog in the crash area but the cause of the crash is not yet known.

What’s known about the crash?

Almaty’s airport said there were 93 passengers and five crew on board the Fokker 100 aircraft.

A full list of the passengers published by Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said there were 85 adults, five children and three infants on board, not counting the crew.

The airport said the plane lost height at 07:22 local time (01:22 GMT), before striking a concrete barrier and crashing into a two-storey building. There was no fire upon impact.

The airport later published the list of 60 survivors who were being treated at hospitals.

Maral Erman, one of the survivors, said the plane was shaking during take-off, Tengri News website reports.

She said it first felt as if the plane had landed, but in fact “we hit something”.

“There wasn’t much chaos on board. There were no screaming.”

Ms Erman said the crew opened the exit for passengers to get out of the aircraft.

She added that she later saw the plane had “split in half”.

Footage has emerged of rescuers working at the scene.

In it, a woman can be heard calling for an ambulance and the cockpit of the plane is seen wedged into the side of the building.

Almaty’s airport said later on Friday that it was operating normally and the flight schedule was unaffected

What’s been the reaction?

A special commission will be set up to determine the cause of the crash.

Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev expressed “deep condolences” to the victims’ relatives.

He also said that “all those responsible would be severely punished in accordance with the law”.

What is known about Bek Air?

Bek Air was founded in 1999, initially targeting VIP flight operations, the company’s website says.

Nowadays, the company describes itself as Kazakhstan’s first low-cost airline.

Its fleet is made up of seven Fokker-100 aircraft.

This is not the first serious plane crash in the city.

On 29 January 2013, a passenger plane travelling from the northern town of Kokshetau came down near Almaty, killing 20 people.

A month earlier, 27 people died when a military plane carrying senior Kazakh security officials crashed in the south of the country.

Source:  BBC

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A statement from the Pakistani military said the aircraft was on a routine training flight when it crashed but there was no immediate word on the cause of the accident or the type of aircraft involved.

Military and civilian rescue workers took at least 12 injured civilians to hospitals in the city and extinguished the fire, leaving the smoking ruins of a house which appeared to have borne the brunt of the crash.

“The plane hit the side of the building and the structure it has crashed into has completely collapsed,’ an army officer at the scene said.

The site, in a village on the edge of an affluent housing development called Bahia Town, was surrounded by military and rescue service vehicles and security officials pushed back a crowd of bystanders.

Garrison city Rawalpindi is close to the capital Islamabad and is where the headquarters of the Pakistan army is based.

Earlier, the website of newspaper The News International carried footage showing a building engulfed in flames in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

Source:  Reuters

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The president said on behalf of the government and the people of Nigeria, he extended his sincere condolences to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, the people of Ethiopia, Kenya, Canada, China and all other nations who lost citizens in the air disaster.

The President also commiserated with the families of the victims and prayed God Almighty to grant the souls of the departed eternal rest.

Reacting to the plane crash in Daura, Katsina State on Sunday, President Buhari said: “Such large scale loss of human lives in a single incident is shocking beyond words. I am profoundly touched by this devastating report of air accident involving one of the world’s most successful and efficient Airlines. Given its remarkable safety record. This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Ethiopian Airlines.”

According to President Buhari, “like every other African leader, I am proud of the fact that Ethiopian Airlines represents one of Africa’s success stories.”

The President said the tragic accident should not not have a negative effect on Ethiopian Airlines’ passion for excellence.

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It said 149 passengers and eight crew members were believed to be on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.

The airline added that there were 33 different nationalities on board.

The crash happened at 08.44 local time, six minutes after the months-old Boeing 737 Max-8 took off.

It is not yet clear what caused the accident.

An eyewitness at the scene told the BBC there was a blast and intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground.

First word of the crash came when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his “deepest condolences” on Twitter.

In an earlier statement, the airline said that search and rescue operations were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital.

“Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services,” the statement added.

Boeing, the company that built the aeroplane, said in a tweet that it was “closely monitoring the situation”.

Its 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having been launched in 2016.

It was added to the Ethiopian Airlines fleet in July last year.

Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash five months ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190 people on board.

What do we know about the airline’s safety record?

Ethiopian Airlines flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home country to destinations outside Africa.

It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company’s aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut.

The airline’s highest fatalities prior to this came in a November 1996 crash during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

One of the aeroplane’s engines stopped when the fuel ran out and although pilots attempted an emergency water landing, they hit a coral reef in the Indian Ocean and 123 of the 175 people on board were killed.

Source:  BBC

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The plane, according to a BBC report, crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Flight JT 610 was on a scheduled flight to Pangkal Pinang, the main town in the Bangka Belitung Islands, but lost contact with ground control a few minutes after take-off.

It is believed to have ended up underwater.

There cause of the crash is not yet known and there has been no word yet of any survivors.

The plane was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, a brand new type of aircraft.

“The plane crashed into water about 30m to 40m deep,” Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Yusuf Latif told AFP news agency.

“We’re still searching for the remains of the plane.”

Some materials believed to belong to passengers have been found in the water, including ID cards and driver’s licences.

“We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors,” the agency’s head, Muhmmad Syaugi, told reporters.

“We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm.”

At an earlier news conference, officials said the plane had been carrying 178 adults, one infant and two babies, as well as two pilots and five cabin crew.

However, there are conflicting reports on the exact number of people on board.

The plane was due to arrive at Depati Amir airport in Pangkal Pinang an hour later but 13 minutes into the flight, authorities lost contact with it.

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