COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Associated Press) – Countries whose citizens were killed when Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian plane said Friday that they want Iran to “achieve justice and ensure that Iran provides full compensation to the families of the victims and the affected countries.”
In a joint statement marking the first anniversary of the crash of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752, Ukraine, Canada, Britain, Afghanistan and Sweden said that they want Tehran to “provide a full and comprehensive explanation of the events and decisions that led to this horrific plane crash.”
Sweden had previously said that Iran had agreed to compensate the families of foreign victims.
The shooting by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard came on the same night that Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting US soldiers in Iraq, in response to a US air strike by drone that killed Guard General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.
The plane was on its way to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Among the victims were 57 Canadians, in addition to 11 Ukrainians, 17 people from Sweden, four Afghans and four British citizens. Among them from Sweden were both Swedish citizens and people with residence permits in the Scandinavian country.
At first, Iran denied involvement in the plane crash but then announced that its army had accidentally and unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian plane.
The statement was signed by the ministers of Afghanistan, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
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This story was corrected to remove the reference to France, which had no citizens on the plane that was shot down.
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