Canada to press Iran to send downed plane's black boxes to France
Canada will press Iran on Wednesday to send the black boxes from a downed airliner immediately to France where the data can be analyzed, Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters.
Iran’s civil aviation authority said on Tuesday it would keep working with other countries investigating its downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane last month. Tehran has not released the black boxes.
Champagne said he would be talking to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about the recorders, the probe and compensation for families of the 57 Canadians who were among the 176 people aboard who were killed.
“We are going to ask that the black boxes be sent to France ... (which) has all the equipment and technical expertise to analyze them,” said Champagne. “We don’t want there to be any more delays so we would like to see that happen immediately.”
Champagne said he and Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau met the head of the International Civil Aviation Organization last Friday to ask for its help to make sure the flight and cockpit recorders were sent to France.
“This is a message I will reiterate (to Zarif) ... we judge Iran by their actions, not their words,” Champagne said.