Iranian authorities have claimed that human error led to the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 over Tehran in a new report by the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran (CAOI). But the Ukrainian government isn’t satisfied with that explanation.
The report, the full version of which is not yet public, blames mismanagement of the air defense’s radar system and poor military communication for the downing of the jet.
The CAOI report states that the plane was targeted by mistake because the air defense unit did not calibrate correctly after being moved into its new location. As a result, it misidentified the civilian plane flying out of Tehran as a military jet flying into it.
CAOI also added that the missile battery did not correctly communicate with their command center and fired on the aircraft without receiving approval. The report does not explain why Iran’s Revolutionary Guard moved the air defense system, but does note that PS752 did not perform any extraordinary maneuvers which could have triggered the system, according to the National Post.
Ukrainian authorities have called that explanation into question.
“As of today, Ukraine cannot agree that the plane was shot down due to human error,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on July 14. “We are convinced that this issue should be clarified within the framework of a criminal investigation with the establishment of all the facts.”
Flight PS752 took off from Tehran on Jan. 8. It crashed 20 kilometers from its point of departure, killing all 167 passengers and 9 crew members on board, most of them citizens of Iran and Canada. After initially denying responsibility for the crash, Iran later admitted to shooting down the place with the SA-15 air defense system.
Ukraine isn’t the only country with questions about Iran’s new explanation.
Hamed Esmaeilion, a Canadian citizen who lost his daughter and wife in the crash and is one of the founders of a group representing other victims, also expressed confusion over the new explanation on his Twitter account: “Between 1:20 a.m. to 6:12 a.m. on Jan. 8, eight flights left IKA. Why the 107 degree misaligned air defense unit aimed just (at) PS752? Any layperson in Tehran can find North and South in a second. How plausible this story is? Is Iran’s airspace safe by this poor explanation?”
It is not yet known how Iran’s new explanation of the downing will influence the upcoming discussions about compensation for families of those killed in the disaster, which is meant to take place between July 25 and 30, upon the arrival of Iranian officials to Ukraine.
