In this file photo taken on March 3, 2020, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne is pictured during a meeting with Latvias President in Riga. (Photo by AFP)
Canadas foreign minister says the black boxes of a Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran in January has arrived in France for analysis.
Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a tweet on Sunday that the boxes were expected to be taken to Frances BEA air accident investigation agency -- one of the worlds leading agencies for reading flight recorders-on Monday, adding that Canadian transportation officials would be present.
With 167 passengers and nine crewmembers on board, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed outside Tehrans Imam Khomeini International Airport on January 8, moments after takeoff.
The crashed plane was carrying Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and people who had Canada as their final destination.
Iranian authorities acknowledged that the plane had been downed due to human error at a time when Irans air defenses were on high alert due to increased hostile American aerial activity in the aftermath of Irans missile strike on a US military base in Iraq.
The missile strike came after Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was assassinated in a US drone attack along with his companions, outside Baghdad International Airport on direct order from US President Donald Trump.
Last week, Irans deputy foreign minister said the black boxes had been sent to Paris for analysis.
"The black boxes were transported to Paris yesterday by officials of the Civil Aviation Authority and a judge," Mohsen Baharvand said Saturday.
Earlier this month, the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran said in an interim report that the mismanagement of an air defense units radar system by its operator had been the key "human error" that led to the accidental downing of the Ukrainian plane.
The CAO also said the air defense unit operator had acted "without receiving any response from the Coordination Center" on which he depended.
SOURCE: PRESS TV
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/19429
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