UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2020) The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has accepted Iran's invitation to provide expert advice in the investigation of the Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane crash, ICAO said in a statement.
"Noting that all relevant States have been granted the right to participate in the investigation in compliance with Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation), ICAO has appointed senior and expert technical staff who will now serve as advisors and observers with respect to States' interactions and interpretations relevant to Annex 13 investigation provisions," ICAO said on Monday.
The Boeing 737-800 plane belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed soon after takeoff from a Tehran airport last week, on January 8 - the same day that Iran struck US bases in Iraq with missiles. The Iranian military admitted to unintentionally shooting down the aircraft, having confused it with a hostile cruise missile in anticipation of US retaliation.
On Monday, Abu al-Fadyl Mousavi Beyuki, deputy chairman of Iran's parliamentary committee on urban development, told Sputnik that the erroneous launch of an Iranian missile that struck the passenger aircraft was the result of poor coordination with newly-installed air defense systems located near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Iranian officials have expressed regret for the accident, and government spokesman Ali Rabiei announced on Monday that President Hassan Rouhani is following up on a number of issues related to the crash, which resulted in the death of all 176 people on board, including citizens of Iran, Canada, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
