Ukraine said Friday Iran was ready to hand over the black box flight recorders of the Ukrainian passenger plane downed by an Iranian missile.

The Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737, crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran last Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian and Canadian citizens.

Ukraine's foreign minister said Iran would grant a team of investigators from Iran and Canada as the countries that have lost the most nationals access to the recorders.

"After that, the Iranian side is ready to separately transfer the black boxes to Ukraine," Vadym Prystaiko told lawmakers during a parliamentary session.

"This is consistent with international standards, although we still demand that they be given to us immediately to ensure the independence and objectivity of the investigation," Prystaiko said.

After initial denials, the Islamic republic admitted it has shot down the plane "unintentionally" while on high alert after firing missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani by a US strike.

Prystaiko told CNN on Wednesday that Kiev has "good cooperation" with Tehran on the crash probe, but lacked "access to the information stored in the black boxes."

"We just want to know that nobody will be tampering with the recordings themselves," he said.

Prystaiko said an Iranian official will visit Kiev next week "to apologise officially and provide explanations."

On Thursday, Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and Britain issued a five-point plan for cooperation with Iran during the investigation, calling for "full and unhindered access" for foreign officials.

ant-dg/ma/ach

BOEING

Related Links
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Air France-KLM chief warns carbon taxes could backfire
Paris (AFP) Jan 17, 2020
Air France-KLM chief executive Ben Smith said Friday that imposing carbon taxes on ticket prices could prove counterproductive, hindering efforts by airlines to buy more fuel-efficient planes that could significantly reduce emissions. "Renewing our fleet is a very quick and effective way to reduce our footprint," Smith said, while acknowledging intense pressure - including from his airline's 88,000 employees - to clean up its act. "These taxes hamper our ability to make these investments," he ... read more