Iran delays download of flight recorders from downed Ukrainian plane

Iran has delayed the much-anticipated download and analysis of flight recorders recovered from the wreckage of a downed Ukrainian passenger jet due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to CBC News.

The report notes that Hassan Rezaeifar, the head of the Iranian investigation team, said he invited representatives from eight countries to travel to a laboratory in Europe to start the process, but had to postpone because of the pandemic. "At this moment, planning [a] trip is impossible for some states due to COVID-19," Rezaeifar said.

Kathy Fox, chair of the Transportation Safety Board, said countries want their own representatives to attend the download in person. "As such, the download and analysis of the recorders should be delayed until conditions improve enough to allow for safe travel. At this point, it is not possible to predict when that might happen," she said.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died.

Last month, an Iranian official at the International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to hand over flight recorders to France or Ukraine for analysis, but this has not been done so far.

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