TEHRAN: Amid heightened tension with the United States, Iran on Wednesday said that it won’t give crashed Ukranian plane’s black box to the American authorities and its aviation company Boeing for further investigation. According to Iran's state media, its aviation authority said that it will not hand over to Americans the recovered black boxes of a Boeing 737 that crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew.
“We will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer (Boeing) and the Americans,” Iran Civil Aviation Organisation head Ali Abedzadeh told Mehr news agency.
Abedzadeh said that Iran has not made a decision on which country or international authority it would send the black box to for its data to be analyzed.
Boeing is an American aerospace company headquartered out of Chicago. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jet transports. Boeing also designs, manufactures and sells military aircraft, helicopters, space vehicles, missiles and communication equipment worldwide.
Ukraine's Tehran embassy initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement.
The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines flight came hours after Iran fired as many as 15 ballistic missiles on Iraqi bases housing US soldiers in a major retaliation by the rogue regime after the US airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani last week.
No Americans were aboard the flight. Three Britons, three Germans, 63 Canadians, 10 Swedes, 11 Ukrainians, 82 Iranians and four Afghans died in the crash, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Vadym Prystaiko said.
The timing of the crash fueled speculation on social media that the earlier missile strike played a role in the crash shortly after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, but authorities have pointed to a mechanical issue.
The crash took place just days before the American aviation company`s new CEO David Calhoun will formally take the job. Calhoun replaces Dennis Muilenburg, who was ousted in December after Boeing`s disastrous year.
The American aviation giant is still reeling from the aftermath of two 737 Max crashes, which killed 346 people.
The Max has been grounded worldwide since March, and the company has struggled with delays and other issues in its bid to get the planes back in the air.
(With Agency inputs)
