Iran to Send Ukrainian Plane’s Black Box to France in Coming Days

In a telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Francois-Philippe Champagne on Monday, Foreign Minister Zarif informed him that Iran will send the black box of the Ukrainian plane to France within the next few days to have its data analyzed.

The top Iranian diplomat noted that the decision to send the flight recorder has been made for a while, saying the decision is going to be implemented soon.

Foreign Minister Zarif also notified his Canadian counterpart that the Islamic Republic of Iran has already informed Ukraine of its readiness to address the legal issues, the procedure for paying compensation to the families of the passengers who have died in the tragic incident, as well as paying compensation for the Ukrainian jetliner.

However, Zarif added, Ukraine has not still assigned a delegation to hold negotiations, but the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to pursue the issue.

The outbreak of coronavirus and a halt to the international flights had resulted in a suspension of plans to read the black box and other measures, while the executive measures to address the case will soon resume with the limited resumption of flights.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kiev operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after take-off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. All the 176 passengers and crew were killed.

According to Iranian officials, 146 passengers used an Iranian passport to leave the country, 10 used an Afghan passport, five used a Canadian one, four a Swedish one, and two used Ukrainian passports.

The Ukrainian government, however, says there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians (mostly Iranian-Canadian dual nationals), 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 7 Afghans, and 3 Britons on the plane, which was accidentally shot down by Iran’s Air Defence.