Iran: Covid-19 outbreak delays investigation into downed Ukrainian
flight
The
Guardian, APRIL 13, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic will delay the investigation into the
downing of a Ukrainian international flight over Iran, after Canada asked Tehran to delay downloading data on the black boxes due to
coronavirus travel restrictions.
Iran agreed in March to hand over the black boxes
from Flight 752 to Ukraine or France for analysis – a move welcomed by Canada
and Ukraine.
The boxes are expected to contain information about the last
moments before the Ukraine International Airlines
jetliner was struck by a missile and
crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran airport on 8 January.
Last week, Iran contacted the countries involved to ask when
they could send experts to help download the data off the black boxes,
according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
While stressing that the concerned countries were “anxious
for the download and analysis of the recorders to proceed”, TSB president Kathy
Fox said they all “provided a consistent response, indicating that travelling
was impossible at this time, and likely for some time to come” due to
restrictions imposed due to the pandemic.
The Iranian military has
admitted that the plane was shot down due to “human error”. Of the 176 victims,
57 were Canadian citizens and 29 were permanent residents in Canada.
The TSB added that
representatives or experts from the involved countries should be present when
the black box data is downloaded, and that the process should therefore be
postponed until “conditions improve enough to allow for safe travel”.
“We still expect Iran will
carry through with its commitment to have the recorders downloaded” once
conditions improved, Fox said.
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