Dominic Raab lights candle for victims of Iran plane crash

16 January 2020, 13:25 | Updated: 16 January 2020, 13:26

Dominic Raab has lit a candle for the victims of the passenger jet shot down by Iran ahead of meeting ministers from five other nations to discuss the incident.

The foreign secretary attended the memorial ceremony at the High Commission of Canada in central London with counterparts from Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Afghanistan, who all lost citizens in the crash.

Behind the ministers a plaque on the wall listed the names of the crash victims.

Following the memorial event, Mr Raab will join his ministerial counterparts for a meeting of the International Coordination and Response Group.

Attending the meeting will be Canada's minister of foreign affairs Francois-Philippe Champagne, Ann Linde, Sweden's minister of foreign affairs, Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs and Idrees Zaman, acting foreign minister for Afghanistan.

Stef Blok, minister of foreign affairs for the Netherlands, who observed the candle lighting ceremony, is also due to be at the meeting.

All 176 people, including four British nationals, on board the Ukrainian International Airlines flight from Tehran to Kyiv were killed when the plane came down moments after take-off last week.

The majority of the plane crash victims were Iranians or Iranian-Canadians.

British citizens Sam Zokaei, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh were identified as among the dead.

After initially denying claims it was responsible, Iran has since admitted unintentionally shooting down the aircraft.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for a "comprehensive, transparent and independent international investigation" into the crash.

In a previous statement he said the Government will do everything it can to support the families of the British victims and ensure they get "the answers and closure they deserve".