A recent video that appears to show the moment a Ukrainian airliner plane was hit by a missile before crashing not far from Iran's airport in Tehran has surfaced online.
The flight bound for Kyiv crashed shortly after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday, January 8, killing all 176 passengers on board.
As investigations into the crash continue to determine the cause, the video offered new clues on what could have transpired, and this comes hours after a confrontation between Iran and the United States.
Further reports indicated the video was verified by Bellingcat, an independent international collective of researchers and citizen journalists.
They reportedly used geolocation technology and other techniques to verify the video which was taken in Parand.
In the video, a small explosion occurred when what appears to be a missile hit the plane above Parand, a city near the airport, but the plane did not explode.
The jet continued flying for several minutes and turned back toward the airport, The Times confirmed.
The plane, which by then had stopped transmitting its signal, flew toward the airport ablaze before it exploded and crashed quickly.
The report further showed visual and sonic clues in the footage also matched flight path information and satellite imagery of the area near where the plane crashed.
The satellite images were taken on Thursday, January 9, by Maxar Technologies, a space technology company.
Other details in the video that helped verify its authenticity were buildings seen in the background with a distinctive design.
Several rows of evenly spaced buildings were visible, consistent with the aerial view of the building compound in satellite imagery.
The video has further strengthened intelligence reports cited by the US media that an Iranian missile brought down the airliner.
However, Iran has allegations that a missile hit the Ukranian airliner's plane while citing technical issues.
It has instead asked countries whose citizens were aboard the plane to send representatives to join the process of investigating the black box.
The victims of the Ukrain plane disaster include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, nine Ukrainian crew members, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.
Ukranian International Airlines has since suspended all flights to and from Iran following the crash.
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