LONDON: The UK, Canada and other countries whose nationals were killed in the Iranian missile strike on a Ukrainian airliner in January are pressuring Tehran to hand over the flight’s black box, The Guardian newspaper reported.
The jet, which was destroyed on Jan. 8 after taking off from Tehran, included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. Tehran admitted that it shot down the airline, having first denied its involvement.
Following a meeting at the 2020 Munich Security Conference, Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne said: “On behalf of the grieving nations of this tragedy, we told (Foreign) Minister (Mohammad Javad) Zarif … that Iran must take steps toward resolving many outstanding questions of fact and of law.”
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Nationals were killed when Iranian missile strike downed a Ukrainian airliner. The victims included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.
He met Zarif at the conference to discuss the black box and compensation for Canadian families.
Champagne said the black box, the property of Ukraine Airlines, should be sent to a third party — likely France — for experts to decode its contents.
Iranian aviation authority had said that it will not hand over flight recorders either to the aircraft’s manufacturer or US aviation authorities.
