BAKU, Azerbaijan, March. 18
Trend:
In its final report on the cause of the crash, Iran’s civil aviation body on Wednesday blamed an error by an air defense operator.
The Ukraine International Airlines’ flight 752 crashed minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital on January 8, 2020, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency.
The Iranian National Civil Aviation Organization published the final report on the cause of the crash.
According to the report, the plane was identified as a hostile target due to a mistake by an operator of the air defense system stationed around Tehran, and two missiles were fired at it.
“The flight’s operation did not have a role in creating the error by the air defense battery,” the report added. “All 176 people on board died.”
In another part of the report, it is stated that a qualified Boeing 737, piloted by a qualified flight crew of Ukrainian International Airlines, was under the control of Iranian flight surveillance traffic at the time of the accident.
The report admitted that the coordination was not made with the military to issue a flight license.
In another part of this report, audio conversations of the pilot and the watchtower have also been released.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was not satisfied with Wednesday's report. He accused Iranian authorities of masking the real reasons for the crash.
"What we saw in the published report today is nothing more than a cynical attempt to hide the true reasons for the downing of our plane," wrote Kuleba in a Facebook post. "We will not allow Iran to hide the truth, we will not allow it to avoid responsibility for this crime."