Still no black boxes
by The Canadian Press
Transport Minister Marc Garneau says efforts are still underway to get Iran to release the flight recorders from its Jan. 8 shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane.
On March 11, Garneau was at the Montreal meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization when Iran's representative promised his government would surrender the flight recorders to Ukraine authorities by March 25.
Garneau says Iran has said it has been dealing with COVID-19, which ravaged the country, but the regime must still surrender the so-called black boxes to honour its obligation under international civil-aviation law.
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was hit by two Iranian missiles shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport, killing all 176 on board, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Britain, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Sweden also lost citizens when the plane was destroyed, and the countries have formed an alliance with Canada to deal with Iran.
They are pressing Iran to co-operate in a transparent investigation so the cause of the missile strike and the crash can be definitely determined and compensation for the victims' loved ones can be paid.