Iran is reportedly sending black boxes from the downed Ukrainian passenger plane back to Ukraine after Tehran acknowledged that its military accidentally shot down the Boeing 737-800 earlier this month.
Specialists from France, Canada and the United States are expected to analyze data from the two boxes that came from the airliner, Reuters reported Saturday, citing a report from the Tasnim news agency in Iran.
All 176 people aboard the Ukraine International Airlines flight died when the plane was shot down on Jan. 8 soon after takeoff from Tehran on its way to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
“With the use of the expertise of the countries of France, Canada and America, we will try to read the [flight data recorder] in Kiev,” Hassan Rezaifar, an official in charge of accident investigations at Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, was quoted as saying by Tasnim.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pressed for Iran to send the black boxes to France. Fifty-seven people on board the flight were Canadian.
“France was one of the few countries with the ability to read the flight and cockpit data recorders from the jet,” he said, according to Reuters.
Iran initially took several days to respond to the crash, with original reports claiming that there was an engine failure rather than a missile strike.