Iran decides to read black box of downed UIA plane domestically

The black box of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane crashed in Tehran will remain and be analyzed inside Iran.

“Our policy is that the Ukrainian plane’s black box would remain in Iran and be read here,” Farajollah Rajabi, a member of the Parliament’s development commission, told Tasnim news agency on Sunday.

The Ministry of Road and Urban Development is going to read the data from the Ukrainian plane’s black box in the country, Rajabi added.

As reported, a Ukraine International Airlines plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on Wednesday, January 8. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK).

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.

Canada and its international partners called on Iran to delegate the powers to read the black box of the downed UIA plane to Ukraine or France as soon as possible.

ol