By Canadian Press

Canadian investigators to visit site of airplane crash near Iranian capital

Jan 14, 2020 | 1:10 AM

OTTAWA — Canadian investigators are getting their first chance to visit the crash site outside of Tehran today, as part of an international team looking into the sequence of events that ended with a jet from Ukraine being shot out of the sky.

The attack killed all 176 people on board, including 57 Canadians.

The aircraft was shot down just hours after Iran launched air strikes against two military bases in Iraq where U.S. forces, and also some Canadians, are stationed.

The air strikes were in retaliation for a targeted drone strike on Jan. 3 by the U.S. that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani.

Iran’s judiciary said Tuesday that arrests have been made and the president has called for a special court to be set up to probe the downing last week of the plane by Iranian forces.

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Iran, which initially dismissed allegations that a missile had brought down the jetliner, acknowledged three days after Wednesday’s downing that its Revolutionary Guard had shot down the Ukrainian plane by mistake.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2020.

The Canadian Press