A new video surfaced showing the moment a Ukrainian airliner carrying 176 passengers was hit by a missile before crashing not far from Iran’s airport in Tehran on Wednesday.
The New York Times and CNN said they were sent the video by internet-freedom researcher Nariman Gharib, who said he obtained it from another individual.
The Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752 bound for Kyiv, its capital, crashed minutes after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.
The planed plunge to the ground shortly after Iran attacked US bases with over 15 missiles. All the 176 passengers and crew on board the plane were killed.
The New York Times reports that the video shows a small explosion in the sky over Parand, near Tehran, the suburb where the Ukrainian airliner first stopped transmitting its signal.
The plane continues to fly for several minutes before turning back towards the airport, the newspaper said.
It then exploded and crashed. A loud explosion can be heard.
Bellinggcat, an independent international collective of researchers and citizen journalists, using geolocation technology and other techniques, established the video was taken in Parand.
Bellingcat said it was possible that two missiles were fired, prompting the person filming to start recording.
The New York Times also reported that the person started filming after hearing “some sort of shot fired.”
However, Iran had since denied that the plane was hit by a missile.
“All these reports are a psychological warfare against Iran … 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,” Iranian state TV quoted government spokesman,Ali Rabiei who said this in a statement.
Iranian investigators released an initial report on Thursday that said the airliner was on fire and tried turning back but its crew never made a radio call for help.
Video
We are analyzing this new video supposedly showing a mid-air explosion. By our initial estimation, the video shows an apartment block in western Parand (35.489414, 50.906917), facing northeast. This perspective is directed approximately towards the known trajectory of #PS752. pic.twitter.com/nDvjRIkFU4
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) January 9, 2020
