TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2020) The Iranian authorities have not decided yet as to whether a black box from the crashed Ukrainian passenger plane is to be sent abroad for deciphering, Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, told Sputnik on Thursday.
The tragic crash involved a Ukrainian Boeing 737-800, bound for Kiev, and happened on Wednesday near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport shortly after take-off. All 176 people on board were killed.
"At the moment we cannot say whether we are able to decipher the black box's data to find out the reason behind the accident. I do not know if in the future we have to send the black box abroad for decoding," Jafarzadeh said.
Iranian specialists are currently working to decipher the box's data and everything will depend on whether they decipher it in full or only in parts.
"Deciphering data from a black box is a prerogative of the state, on which territory a plane crash took place," the spokesman stressed.
He added that the states that lost their citizens in the crash, as well as the country of the plane's proprietor, could assist in the decoding process.
"In that regard we have invited a group from Ukraine to assist [us] in finding out the reason behind the accident. They have already begun working with the Iranian investigators," Jafarzadeh said.
According to him, it is premature to speculate about the accident.
"We cannot say whether it is a technical malfunction or something else until the outcome of the investigation," he stated.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has already listed several possible reasons behind the incident, including an attack by an anti-aircraft missile, an explosion resulting from a terror attack, and an engine explosion due to a technical malfunction.
