Advertisement

Iran requests help from West to download plane crash black box information

82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and four Britons died in the crash - AFP
82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and four Britons died in the crash - AFP

Iran requires international help to decode the black boxes of the passenger jet apparently shot down by its surface-to-air missiles, officials said today, amid growing frustration that Tehran is not releasing the flight recorders for independent analysis.  

Iran’s civil aviation body has requested equipment from America and France that it says it needs to download information from the two black boxes recovered from the aircraft - but has so far not received a positive response, officials claimed.

It comes after Tehran took days to admit that the Ukrainian airliner had been targeted by its military surface-to-air missiles, and rebuffed calls from Ukraine, Canada and other countries whose citizens died in the crash to send the recorders abroad for investigation.

All 176 passengers and crew were killed when the Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Flight PS752 lost all radio contact and crashed shortly after it taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, Tehran, on January 8. The casualties included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and four Britons.

In its second preliminary report into the disaster, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation today admitted for the first time that two Russian-made Tor-M1 surface-to-air missiles had been fired at the aircraft by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Iran requires international help to decode the black boxes - Credit: IRIB VIA WANA/REUTERS
Iran requires international help to decode the black boxes Credit: IRIB VIA WANA/REUTERS

However it stopped short of directly attributing this to the crash, adding: "The impact of these missiles on the accident and the analysis of this action is under investigation."

Officials also admitted they do not have the equipment needed to download information from the model of flight recorders recovered the three-year-old Boeing 737, and had contacted the French accident agency BEA and the US National Transportation Safety Board for assistance. Iran has faced US sanctions for years which have limited its ability to buy new planes and equipment.

"If the appropriate supplies and equipment are provided, the information can be taken out and reconstructed in a short period of time," the civil aviation organisation said.

The Tor short-range air defence system, code-named the SA-15 by NATO, was designed during Soviet times to shoot down aircraft and precision guided weapons. In 2017, Iran received 29 TOR-M1 units from Russia under a contract worth an estimated $700 million (£537 million).