Foreign Affairs Minister Vadym Prystaiko said Iranian, Ukrainian, Swedish, Afghan, British and German nationals were also aboard the plane. CBC News has reached out to Global Affairs Canada but has not heard back.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines flight came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers, but both Ukrainian and Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky extended his condolences to the families of the victims. His office said he had cut his visit to Oman short and was returning to Kyiv because of the crash. The country’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk confirmed the casualty toll.

Cause of crash not yet clear

«Our task is to establish the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all necessary help to the families of the victims,» said parliament speaker, Dmytro Razumkov, in a Facebook statement.

Ukraine International Airlines said it had indefinitely suspended flights to Tehran after the crash.

Hassan Razaeifar, the head of air crash investigation committee, said it appeared the pilot couldn’t communicate with air-traffic controllers in Tehran in the last moments of the flight. He did not elaborate.

Ukrainian authorities have offered to help with the investigation of the plane crash. «We’re preparing a group of specialists in order to help with the search operation and the investigation of the cause of the crash,» Honcharuk said.

Boeing Co. was «aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information,» spokesperson Michael Friedman told the AP.

Din Mohammad Qassemi, who lives near the crash site, said he had been watching the news about the Iranian ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in revenge for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani when he heard the crash.

«I heard a massive explosion and all the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere,» he told The Associated Press. «At first I thought (the Americans) have hit here with missiles and went in the basement as a shelter. After a while, I went out and saw a plane has crashed over there. Body parts were lying around everywhere.»

Transport Canada had previously said that it was «monitoring the situation closely in the Middle East and are in close contact with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.» It said that Air Canada, the only Canadian carrier to operate in the affected area, «has altered its routes to ensure the security of its flights into and over the Middle East.»

More to come.