Iran will not provide Boeing with the black box of a Ukrainian 737 that crashed near Tehran, the country’s civil aviation authority has said. An investigation into the accident is ongoing.

Ali Abedzadeh, head of the Iran Civil Aviation Organization, said that Tehran would carry out its own probe into the crash, adding that Ukrainian authorities will be allowed to be “present during investigations.”

He also said that it hadn’t yet been decided where the black box would be sent for analysis.Responding to the crash, Boeing said in a statement that it was ready to “assist in any way needed.”

A Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran earlier on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. Ukraine initially suggested that the accident was due to mechanical failure, but later scrubbed its statement.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation head says black box will not be returned to Boeing. "Investigations into plane crashes take place in the country of the crash"Ukrainian authorities "can be present during investigations". (Mehr news agency) pic.twitter.com/36Uhb9a8id — BBC Monitoring (@BBCMonitoring) January 8, 2020

The Ukrainian airline said the aircraft was “in excellent condition” before its last flight from Tehran to Kiev, Evgeny Dykhne, the company’s president, told reporters in Kiev. The plane, described as one of the “best” in the company’s fleet, had undergone an inspection just two days prior.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the public to refrain from speculating about what may have caused the crash. Ukraine’s foreign minister confirmed that he had been in contact with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and that both nations had agreed to coordinate their efforts to determine what caused the “terrible” crash.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry revealed that among those killed in Wednesday’s crash were 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainians, 63 Canadians, four Afghans, three Germans, three British nationals and 10 Swedes.

Also on rt.com ‘One of our best planes’: Ukrainian Boeing 737 that crashed in Iran was ‘in excellent condition’ & manned by experienced crew

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