Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said in a second preliminary investigation report that a Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed after taking off from the Iranian capital on Jan. 8 was downed by two short-range surface-to-air missiles.
The Tor-M1 missiles were launched at the Kyiv-bound Boeing 737-800 jetliner from the north, according to the report.
The report further said that the plane took off from Tehran at 6:12 a.m. local time and lost all contact with air traffic control at 8,100 feet.
Aircraft disappeared from secondary surveillance radar screens at 6:15 a.m. and from primary surveillance radars at 6:18 a.m, the report added.
French and US accident investigation agencies have refused to send necessary equipment to Iran for decoding the black boxes.
Last week, US President Donald Trump has strongly denied allegations he ordered a campaign pressuring Ukrainian officials to investigate the business dealings of former vice president Biden and his son, part of the impeachment inquiry that will formally read out charges facing the president in the Senate.
The Kiev-bound UIA Boeing 737, crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian and Canadian citizens. The caskets were to remain for a while at the airport terminal so that relatives and members of the airline could say their last goodbyes.
Tehran admitted it had mistakenly shot down the plane several days later. Ukraine’s leader has demanded that Iran punish those guilty for the downing of the airliner and compensate the victims. Iran’s Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani had tweeted that the country ‘deeply regrets’ the ‘disastrous mistake.’
On January 12, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promised a further investigation into the circumstances surrounding the plane crash while having a telephonic conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
(With inputs from agency)