MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2020) The decryption of the black boxes from the downed Ukrainian jet will begin in France on July 20 under the supervision of an Iranian team, the state-run Mehr news agency reported, citing Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand.
In March, the Iran Civil Aviation Organization confirmed that flight data recorders from flight PS752 downed in Tehran in January will be sent to Ukraine or France for decryption. The handover was, however, delayed due to the worsening epidemiological situation in Iran amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"If everything goes as planned and nothing unexpected happens, the black box will be transported to France by Iran Civil Aviation Organization and extracting and decoding data will begin on July 20, 2020," Baharvand said, as cited by the media outlet.
"A team of experts and specialists from the Islamic Republic of Iran will lead the research and the reading data will be done under the guidance and supervision of the Iranian team, however, other countries that are somehow related to this unfortunate event can send a representative to France," the official added.
Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran claiming the lives of 167 passengers � mostly Canadian and Iranian nationals and nine Ukrainian crew members � after being shot down mistakenly by the Iranian authorities.
