Iran plane crash: Ukrainian flight attendant's heartbreaking post before disaster

Valeria, a flight attendant, posted just two weeks ago from a hotel in Bangkok with the caption: "Work, I love you." Photo / Supplied

A Ukrainian air hostess, who was on-board the fatal flight that crashed into farmland in Iran, killing all 176 on-board, made a touching tribute about her job just weeks beforehand.

Valeriia Ovcharuk, 28, was one of nine crew members on-board who died in the horror crash, news.com.au reported.

Ovcharuk, who was also reportedly an amateur pilot and from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, made a touching tribute about her job as a flight attendant just two weeks before the Boeing 737, heading to the Ukrainian capital Kiev, came down just minutes after takeoff.

The young flight attendant was one of nine crew members who died in the crash. Photo / Supplied

While sitting in a rooftop pool at The Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel in Bangkok, the young hostess posted "Work, I love you" alongside a red heart emoji and the hashtags #ilovemyjob and #crewlife.

On Wednesday, Ukraine International Airlines released the names of the pilots and crew on-board the Boeing 787 who died in the crash.

Captain Volodymyr Gaponenko, who has spent 11,600 hours on Boeing 737 aircraft including 5500 hours as captain, was the first on their list followed by instructor pilot Oleksiy Naumkin, who had flown 12,000 hours on a Boeing 737 aircraft including 6600 hours as captain. The final cockpit member was First Officer Serhii Khomenko, who had been on a Boeing 737 for 7600 hours.

In addition, the airline said Ihor Matkov, flight PS752's chief attendant, Kateryna Statnik, Yuliia Solohub, Denys Lykhno and Mariia Mykytiuk were among the victims.

Mykytiuk, along with Ovcharuk, frequently posted messages and photographs on their social media accounts of their travels, which are now being filled with tributes.

Mykytiuk, 24, was described as "a very bright, beautiful, cheerful and sincere woman", hailing from Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine.

Mariia Mykytiuk was one of the flight attendants who died. Photo / Instagram

"Sincere condolences to your family! Rest with God," one person wrote under a photo of Ms Ovcharuk.

"Such a young beautiful girl … eternal memory," another added.

Following the horror crash, Ukraine's embassy in Iran issued a statement suggesting "technical failure" was at fault.

"According to preliminary information," the statement read, "the plane crashed as a result of a technical failure of the engine. The possibility of a terrorist attack or missile strike are currently ruled out."

But by 10am local time, according to The Independent, that page was no longer accessible from the embassy's site, with no additional information given about the details of the crash.

Now a new statement has replaced the initial correspondence, saying it was up to an official commission to determine the cause of the accident.

As reported by The Independent, Ukrainian International Airlines dismissed the possibility of technical problems with the plane, insisting there was "nothing wrong" with the three-year-old aircraft.

"We guarantee the safety of our aircraft and the high qualification of our crews," UIA's president Yevgen ​Dykhne said of the Boeing plane, which had only just undergone a scheduled technical check two days prior.

UIA's vice-president of operations, Ihor Sosnovsky, said given the crew's experience, it was unlikely the plane crash was the result of error.

"Tehran airport is anything but a simple one," he said.

"Therefore, for several years UIA has been using this airport to conduct training on Boeing 737 aircraft aimed at evaluating pilots' proficiency and ability to act in emergency cases. "According to our records, the aircraft ascended as high as 2400 metres. Given the crew's experience, error probability is minimal. We do not even consider such a chance."