Ukraine plane crash case: Canada, Sweden to send representatives to Iran

By Trend

Canada and Sweden have introduced their representatives to Iran Civil Aviation Organization to be part of the investigation of the Ukraine airline Boeing 737 plane crash, said top Iranian official responsible for the investigation.

"There is no problem over presence of representatives of related countries to review the incident, according to ICAO regulation," said Reza Jafarzadeh, Trend reports citing IRNA.

"The international community will be informed about the process. Iran's Civil Aviation Organization is not preventing these representatives from participation," he added.

"The international aviation regulations indicate that the country that incident occurred in should review the issue, while the country that registered the plane and the manufacturing company can attend the reviews," Jafarzadeh said.

The official mentioned that Iran's Civil Aviation Organization has invited all the involved countries to attend the review session.

According to Iranian sources, a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane with 167 passengers (including Iranian and foreign citizens) and 9 crew members on board crashed Jan. 8, after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran due to technical issues.

The plane was heading for Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

The plane took off at 06:12 (GMT+3:30), and at 06:18, it lost connection with the dispatcher center. The plane crashed at 6:22.

Iran's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is in charge of the investigation according to international aviation rules. A Ukrainian delegation has been reportedly working on site with the Iranian authorities.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday his government has intelligence indicating that an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane.

However, the Iranian authorities have repeatedly denied allegations or speculation that the crash of the Ukrainian flight was caused by an Iranian missile attack.