Ukrainian investigators will conduct the technical work on the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders retrieved from the Boeing 737-800 which crashed in Tehran.
This work will be shadowed by specialists from the French investigation authority BEA, following discussions between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
BEA had previously denied that it had been asked to provide assistance with the recorders’ information extraction, but has since confirmed it will “attend” the work “which will be done in Ukraine”.
It stresses that the Iranian accident investigation agency remains in charge of the probe into the 8 January crash involving Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752.
Zelensky had earlier held a conversation with Macron during which the two sides had agreed on the “involvement” of French specialists in the “deciphering” of the recorder information, the Ukrainian president’s office states.
Macron has pledged to support a comprehensive investigation into the crash and prosecution of those responsible.
Zelensky’s office adds that France has commenced a formal procedure to open an international investigation through ICAO.
He says a team of Ukrainian investigators dispatched to Tehran in the aftermath of the crash have worked “selflessly, diligently, and around the clock” and that their efforts have helped the truth of the situation to surface.
Work is being carried out to reconstruct the aircraft, he adds.
Zelensky says that discussions with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani have resulted in agreements not only regarding analysis of the flight recorders but also on legal and technical co-operation.
He adds that the state will “make every effort” to obtain compensation from the carrier, insurance firms, and the Iranian government.
Ukrainian prosecutors have opened a criminal case on the matter, which will pursue a probe into allegations of intentional killing of two or more persons and the destruction of an aircraft, says the country’s state prosecutor’s office.
