A passenger plane operated by the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) and carrying 176 people crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran, the Iranian capital, killing everyone on board, the country's state-run Press TV reported.

A senior public relations official at Imam Khomeini International Airport, Ali Khashani, said the Boeing 737 was bound for Kiev. The aircraft, Khashani said, went down on Wednesday, January 8 morning and caught fire after crashing.

According to the official, the crash was likely due to technical problems.

Later, Kashani announced that all the 167 passengers and nine crew members of the plane had died in the crash.

Rescue teams were sent to the site of the crash immediately after the crash.

The Tehran Governor’s Office’s Crisis Management Committee is expected to convene shortly to investigate the crash of the Boeing 737.