Iran Is Refusing To Hand Over The Black Box From The Ukraine Plane Crash

Iran is refusing to hand over the black box from the Ukrainian plane that crashed shortly after take off from Tehran.

All 176 people on board were killed when the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 hit the ground, with the crash suspected to have been caused by a technical issue.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation head, Ali Abedzadeh, said the plane's black box, the device that is essential to working out what was happening on the aircraft, won't be leaving Iran anytime soon.

He added: "We will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer and the Americans. It's not yet clear which country the black box will go to for the investigation.

PA

"This accident will be investigated by Iran's aviation organisation, but the Ukrainians can also be present during the incident's investigation."

The leaders for both Ukraine and Canada have both vowed to do whatever it takes to work out what led to the plane falling from the sky.

There were 82 Iranians onboard, along with 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedish passengers, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said: "Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that [the crash] is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians' questions are answered."

PA

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, added: "Our priority is to establish the truth and those responsible for this terrible catastrophe."

Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry, said an issue arose when a fire struck one of the aircraft's engines. The pilot is then believed to have lost control of the plane, which was sent crashing into the ground.

Tensions are high in Iran at the moment after the military fired more than a dozen rockets at two military bases in Iraq, which house US troops. The attack was in response to a US drone strike that killed Iran's top military commander Qassem Soleimani.

Speaking after the rocket attack, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement: "The fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun."

Iraq's Joint Military Command confirmed that several rockets had hit the American base at al-Asad, in Anbar Province, in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Topics: News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie