Ukrainian, Iranian Investigators Could Together Decode Passenger Jet’s Black Box

A 45-member Ukrainian State Investigative Commission team which arrived in Tehran today is holding talks with Iranian authorities to jointly decode the black box of the downed Ukrainian Airlines Boeing 737-800.

"At the moment, we are holding effective diplomatic negotiations with the Iranian side, there is every reason to hope for cooperation on all issues, including the participation of our commission in deciphering the recordings from the black boxes of our aircraft," Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov on his Facebook page, Ukrainian media reported.

According to the Secretary of the National Security Council, a meeting is currently under way with Iran’s representative, including Iran Civil Aviation Organization (CAO.IRI).

Possible Causes:

Various causes of the tragedy are being discussed during the meeting. Among the main scenarios is the possible downing of the airliner by a missile and, in particular, by a missile from a Russian-made ‘Tor’ missile system. It is also possible that the airliner collided with a drone or another flying object. Another possible cause is an explosion on board the plane or an engine failure. It is also possible that an explosion was as a result of a terrorist act.

Investigators of Malaysian Boeing MH-17 crash part of Investigating team:

Danilov noted that the commission includes specialists who took part in the international investigation into the downing of the Malaysian Boeing MH-17 on July 17, 2014 in the skies over Donbass and who studied the fragments of the Russian BUk anti-aircraft missile, which shot down the Malaysian plane.

"As you know, our experts have shown a high level of professionalism in this case," Danilov added. Currently, the commission is working out with the Iranian authorities the possibility of visiting the crash site where the specialists are going to start searching for the wreckage of the Tor missile, taking into account the information that was published on the Internet.

Earlier, a photograph of the warhead of the TOR missile, allegedly found at the crash site, was published on the internet.

Earlier reports said that Iran has refused to hand over the Black Box to Boeing stating that deciphering the box was the responsibility of the country where the crash took pace.