TEHRAN, January 9./TASS/. Both black box flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 that crashed in Tehran on Wednesday, were damaged in the crash, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization Ali Abedzadeh said on Thursday referring to initial data of the probe.
"Flight recorders are at the disposal of the team investigating the disaster," Tasnim news agency quoted Abedzadeh as saying. "Both black boxes were damaged as a result of the accident and a fire," he added. He said memory units had withstood the crash, but were damaged.
He also refuted reports that the flight recorders could be sent to a third country for analyzing them, saying that quoting him as allegedly saying that black boxes would be sent abroad was a reporter’s mistake.
A Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines carrying 176 passengers and crewmembers crashed in the Iranian capital of Tehran shortly after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday. All people on board were killed, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said.
According to the agency, the passenger jet, which was en route from Tehran to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, crashed reportedly due to technical problems. There were nationals of Iran, Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany and the UK on board.