Experts say 'panic' and 'poor training' could have resulted in Iran accidentally shooting down Ukrainian Flight 752

The New York Times

• US officials have said an Iranian missile most likely downed a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed Wednesday morning shortly after taking off from Tehran's main international airport.
• Researchers told Business Insider that a combination of "poor training" and "panic" could have led Iranian personnel to fire a missile at the plane accidentally. Nearly half the plane's passengers were Iranian.
• But other experts say the plane's flight path and data transmitted to radars would have indicated the aircraft was a passenger plane.
• Iran denies the plane was brought down by a missile, instead blaming a technical failure.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Video footage that emerged Thursday showed the moment Western officials believe an Iranian surface-to-air missile detonated near a Ukrainian International Airlines jet carrying 176 people, puncturing the fuselage with thousands of shards of shrapnel and sending it crashing to the ground.

Iran has denied responsibility for bringing down the jet, blaming a technical failure and accusing the US of spreading a "big lie" by claiming a missile strike caused the crash, which killed everyone on board.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• Iran's president tweeted about an Iranian plane the US shot down in 1988 2 days before a Ukrainian plane was downed in Tehran
• GOP Sen. Mike Lee said in a wild interview that White House officials refused to say whether Trump would seek Congress' permission to kill Iran's supreme leader
• Mike Pence says Congress might 'compromise sources and methods' if fully briefed on the Soleimani strike