People stand near the wreckage of a Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran on Wednesday. All 167 passengers and nine crew were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported. Photo: AFP

A young Chinese man on a business trip in Iran who wrote a post on China's Twitter-like Weibo about how events in the country were frightening him, has received almost 1,500 heartwarming replies from strangers.

The man surnamed Zhao, who said he was just 20 years old and alone in Tehran, wrote that his scheduled flight home to China was around the time that a Ukrainian passenger plane had crashed near Tehran on Wednesday. He posted on Weibo that he was "a bit rattled" by the accident because he was planning to fly back to China from Tehran that night.

"I have no idea what caused the plane to crash," he wrote. "I'm too scared to sleep."

To Zhao's surprise, his Weibo account has been flooded with more than 1,400 comments and messages from other Weibo users he doesn't know. They wished Zhao a safe flight home and many asked him to let them know that he had safely made it home. Zhao's original flight was canceled and he now plans to leave Tehran on Friday evening local time. "Let me buy you a milk tea after you get back," was one netizen's note to Zhao.

"When you come back safely, please update your Weibo to let us know," another wrote.

Touched by the well-wishers, Zhao has written another Weibo post thanking the strangers for their support.

"As a 20-year-old who is alone in Iran, the things happening here have made me very frightened," he wrote, adding that he has little knowledge of the tensions between Iran and the US.

"But I feel less scared when I think of China," Zhao posted. "I believe that I will be safe and sound as I have a great motherland to back me up."

 The tense situation in Iran and Iraq has meant Zhou's original travel plans have been delayed by three days. He promised he will let all his well-wishers know the moment he lands in China.