Late Tuesday night, a Ukrainian Airlines plane, carrying 176 passengers, crashed minutes after takeoff.
Sixty-Three of the 176 people on board were Canadians, with nine people being from Winnipeg.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now said that evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile.
“We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,” said Trudeau. “The news will undoubtedly come as a further shock to the families who are already grieving in the face of this unspeakable tragedy.”
Trudeau went on to say that the downing of the plane may have been unintentional. The Prime Minister’s comments came shortly after U.S. intelligence officials said that it was “highly likely” an Iranian missile accidentally brought down the plane.
The plane crashed just hours after Iran launched an attack on U.S airbases in Iraq, as a response to the States’ killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
Trudeau did not blame the U.S. airstrike for the crash; he only said that Canada needs to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the crash.
“The evidence suggests that this is the likely cause but we need to have a full and complete and credible investigation to establish what happened,” said the Prime Minister. “That’s what we are calling for and that’s what we’re expecting will happen
