Iran will not give black box from crashed Ukrainian airliner to Boeing

Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran s aviation authority said it would not hand over to Americans the recovered black boxes of a Boeing 737 that crashed Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew.

"We will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer (Boeing) and the Americans," Iran Civil Aviation Organisation head Ali Abedzadeh said, quoted by Mehr news agency. "It s not yet clear which country the black box will go to for the investigation," he added.

Following the crash of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, Iran said it had recovered the Boeing 737 s two black boxes.

Abedzadeh said that based on global aviation rules, it was the right of the country where air crashes occur to carry out the investigation.

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

Under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, of which Iran, Ukraine and the United States are all members, air crash investigations are led by the country where the accident occurred.

However, according to aviation experts, the countries that are capable of analysing black boxes are few -- notably Britain, France, Germany and the United States.

France s Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA), which handles air crash investigations, said it had not received any request for help from the Iranian authorities after Wednesday s crash.

The Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed near the airport and burst into flames. 

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there were no survivors. “My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew,” Zelenskiy said in a statement, adding that Ukraine was seeking to establish the circumstances of the crash and the death toll.

Iranian state TV and Ukraine’s prime minister said 167 passengers and 9 crew were on board.

There was no official word from Ukraine International Airlines.

“The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue... we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site,” Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency services, told Iranian state television.

Television footage showed debris and smouldering engine parts strewn across a field, and rescue workers with face masks retrieving bodies of the victims.

According to air tracking service FlightRadar24, the plane that crashed was Flight PS 752 and was flying to Kiev. The plane was three years old and was a Boeing 737-NG, it said.

A spokesman for Boeing said the company was aware of media reports of a plane crash in Iran and was gathering more information. The plane manufacturer grounded its 737 MAX fleet in March after two crashes that killed 346 people.