- [Narrator] On Wednesday January eight,
a Ukraine international airline's jetliner
crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran,
killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board.
The crash occurred hours after Iran fired a missile strike
at US forces in Iraq in retaliation
for the killing of a top Iranian general.
According to US officials and others,
the early evidence suggests the flight,
a Boeing 737-800 was shot down by Iranian missiles.
- We have intelligence from multiple sources
including our allies and our own intelligence.
The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down
by an Iranian surface to air missile.
This may well have been unintentional.
This new information reinforces the need
for a thorough investigation into this matter.
- [Narrator] The process for determining the cause
of a plane crash can take months or even years,
and often involves coordination between different countries,
but this time with heightened tensions
between the US and Iran,
the process is facing complications.
Iranian officials had earlier said
the plane suffered a technical fault.
A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky
said, "Ukraine is interested in finding the truth,
"therefore, I ask all international partners
"if you have any evidence to assist the investigation,
"please provide it."
International protocol lays down specific guidelines
for conducting post-crash investigations.
- It's a very fluid process,
it's concurrent actions, a lot of things are taking place
at the same time.
- [Narrator] Dr. Daniel Kwasi Adjekum
is a former investigator
with more than two decades of experience in aviation.
Investigations are usually conducted
under the auspices of the government of the country
where the crash takes place.
- When the country of occurrence is taking the lead
of the accident,
the country of registry and operator of the aircraft
will be notified so that they can send in
what we call an accredited representative
to be part of the investigation.
The country of design and manufacture of the aircraft
is going to part of it, okay?
So these are the major stakeholders.
- [Narrator] In a more typical accident probe
involving a US-manufactured plane
at least some US safety experts
would be on their way to the site within a day or two.
But given the diplomatic and security issues
clouding this accident,
decisions about US participation are in limbo.
Dr. Adjekum said that countries with a high portion
of citizens aboard the flight
may also become involved in the investigation.
Even under less fraught circumstances,
collaboration between multiple countries
can be difficult.
Dr. Adjekum said that in previous crashes
like Ethiopia Airlines flight 302,
healthy diplomatic relations made it safe
for the two countries to collaborate.
But even then, investigators tussled
over where to send the plane's black boxes.
- But in this case because of the particular situation
where the two of them cannot reconcile,
a third party entity might suffice.
So what could happen is that in such a situation
ICAO might broker a third party,
most likely the French or the Germans
might be brought in by the Iranians
to do the read out.
- [Narrator] Once an investigation shifts
into national security or military issues,
civil investigators generally are relegated
to a marginal role.
- If they have hard evidences based
on maybe satellite photography
which sort of irrefutable,
then the dynamics change,
it becomes a criminal investigation.
- [Narrator] When that happens,
international treaties about data sharing
and broad participation no longer apply.
And participants tend to be focused
on protecting intelligence sources.
Despite the hurdles, Iranian authorities
have indicated through intermediaries,
including the Civil Aviation arm of the United Nations,
they want the US National Transportation Safety board
to provide technical assistance.
In the normal course, this also would mean some level
of participation from the Federal Aviation Administration,
Boeing and General Electric company,
which made the plane's jets
with a French joint venture partner.