China News Service, March 18, comprehensive report. On the 17th, Iran issued a final report on the crash of the Ukrainian passenger plane, stating that the accident was caused by radar deviations and the error of a prevention and control operator.
The Ukrainian side criticized the report’s conclusion as "selective."
Canada claimed that the Iranian report was "incomplete" and will soon announce the results of its investigation.
On January 8, 2020 local time, the Ukrainian flight PS752, which was originally planned to fly to Kiev, crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran Khomeini International Airport in Iran, killing all the people on the passenger plane.
On-site search and rescue work is still continuing, and it can be seen at the scene of the accident that the aircraft has all become fragments.
The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization stated in the report that, as in a preliminary report issued in June 2020, the error was due to the battery’s radar not being calibrated and the lack of communication between the air defense operator and the commander.
In the final report, Iran stated that the relevant air defense unit (ADU) failed to adjust the system direction due to "human error", causing the operator to fly westward from the aircraft leaving Tehran Airport, mistakenly thinking that it was approaching Tehran from the southwest at a low altitude .
Without the approval or response of the command center, the operator identified the target as an enemy target and violated the prescribed procedures to launch a missile at the passenger plane.
The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs criticized that Iran’s investigation did not follow international practices and ignored the evidence provided by Ukraine. The report’s conclusion was “selective” in order to cover up the real cause of the crash.
The Canadian Foreign Minister and the Minister of Transportation stated in a joint statement on the 17th that Iran’s report “looks incomplete and does not contain any conclusive facts or evidence.” The Canadian government will soon announce its findings.
The Transportation Safety Bureau will submit its own review of the Iranian report in the next few days, and the forensic inspection team will release its report in the next few weeks.
Among the victims of the plane crash were dozens of Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
According to previous reports, in the early morning of January 8, 2020 local time, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed near Tehran Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 people, including passengers and crew.
The Iranian military subsequently admitted that it had inadvertently shot down the jet, saying it had confused it with a U.S.-launched cruise missile.