Two Ukrainian experts accredited to analyze ‘black boxes’ of UIA plane downed in Iran

"Currently, the flight recorders of the downed Boeing 737 are being transferred to France which has the necessary technical capabilities to download and analyze them. Two Ukrainian experts will be accredited to conduct the expert examination. Iranian officials pledged to hand over the 'black boxes' by July 20," Deputy Justice Minister of Ukraine Valeria Kolomiets said at a joint video conference meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhenii Yenin and the relatives of those killed in the plane crash, the Ministry of Justice posted on Facebook.

The official recalled that President Volodymyr Zelensky had approved in June the membership of delegation to negotiate with Iran in connection with the downing of the UIA plane in January. In early July, the countries, whose citizens died in the crash, including Ukraine, signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after it took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on 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). They all died.

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner. It emerged later that the UIA plane had been shot down by two missiles of the Tor-M1 air defense system, which Iran received from Russia.

Six people charged with the downing of flight PS752 were detained in Iran.

At the ICAO Council meeting on June 26, the Iranian representatives agreed to send flight recorders to France for download and analysis by July 20.

ol