TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian government will get answers about the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet in which at least 63 Canadians were killed after taking off from the Iranian capital, Prime Minister Justin promised Wednesday Trudeau.De 167 passengers, 138 were going to make connections to continue to Canada, he said. There were no survivors.
Many international students attending universities in various parts of the country traveled on the plane. Newlyweds and a Canadian family of four were also on the device. Ottawa is pushing to participate in Iran’s investigation into the plane’s downing near Tehran, Trudeau said. Getting responses from the Iranian government could be difficult because Canada closed its embassy in Iran in 2012 and suspended diplomatic relations. The downing of Ukraine International Airlines’ plane occurred hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers, but Iranian authorities said they suspected the disaster was due to a aircraft’s mechanical problem, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with three and a half years of use. The Ukrainian authorities initially agreed with this diagnosis, but then they recanted and declined to attribute what happened to a cause while the investigation is underway.” Canadians have questions and deserve answers,” Trudeau said.
To the question of whether he could answer if the plane was shot down, he replied: “I can’t. It’s too early to make guesses.”
“Know that all Canadians are grieving with you,” he said, addressing the families of the victims. Shortly after the plane took off, contact with him was lost, transport minister Marc Garneau said he said information is required for so-called black boxes. Authorities said they found these boxes, which record the cockpit conversations and instrument data. At the moment, however, it is unknown how far Iranians will allow access to information. The Canadian government has offered technical assistance to the next investigation in Iran. The Transportation Safety Board said it has appointed an expert to monitor progress in the Iranian civil aviation agency’s investigation. Aviation experts were skeptical of Iran’s initial claim that the plane went ashore because of a mechanical problem.” Something unusual happened,” Garneau said.In addition to the passengers, there were nine crew members from different countries on the aircraft. Canadian Chancellor Francois-Philippe Champagne confirmed that at least 63 Canadians were killed.
