Send black boxes from Iran plane crash to France, Champagne demands

OTTAWA — Canada’s foreign minister says he’s asked for international help to pressure Iran to give up the black boxes recovered from the wreckage of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.

Francois-Philippe Champagne says he and Transport Minister Marc Garneau have met the leaders at the International Civil Aviation Organization to try to break a logjam over the data recorders.

Iran admits its air defences shot missiles at the plane in January.

All 176 people aboard, including 138 who were headed for Canada, were killed when it crashed outside Tehran.

Iran retrieved the data recorders but doesn’t have the equipment to extract the information from them.

Champagne says Canada wants the black boxes sent to France for analysis, while Iran has asked other countries to lend it the gear so it can do the analysis itself.

The Canadian Press