Civil Aviation Organization: Mountaineers Strongly Suggest They Have Found the Black Box

The Civil Aviation Organization issued a statement announcing that mountaineers dispatched to the Dena region have found two pieces that they strongly believe are the black box of the Tehran-Yasouj flight. The statement reads: "Following reports about the discovery and transfer of the black box of the crashed aircraft, the Civil Aviation Organization announces that the dispatched mountaineers, members of the search group currently at the crash site in the Dena heights, have found two pieces among the aircraft debris that, according to their training, they strongly suggest are the aircraft's black box." Earlier, news agencies reported the discovery of the black box of the Aseman Airlines aircraft in the Dena mountains in southwestern Iran and published images attributed to the black box. The Civil Aviation Organization adds that until these pieces are transferred and examined by a specialized team, an official confirmation of the black box's discovery by this organization is not possible. The organization also did not confirm the images attributed to the black box and stated: "Given the statements of the search group, it has not yet been possible to transfer images of the found pieces." Flight number 3704 of Aseman Airlines, which took off from Tehran to Yasouj on February 18, crashed in the Dena mountains a few hours after takeoff, killing all 65 passengers on board. The aircraft crashed near Semiram in Isfahan, just about 20 kilometers from its destination airport. The Aseman Airlines aircraft was an ATR 72 model 200, which was 24 years old, and this has once again brought the issue of the aging Iranian air fleet to the headlines. Following the crash of this aircraft, the Civil Aviation Organization announced that it had suspended flights of the ATR model 200 and 500 of Aseman Airlines until further notice. Some reports indicated that the crashed aircraft had experienced technical issues in 2013, but the pilot managed to land it. However, Iran's Minister of Labor on March 8 dismissed the claim of the aircraft's unsafety, stating that the crashed aircraft had no issues prior to the incident and that all technical matters had been observed. Ali Rabiei, the Minister of Labor, also almost ruled out human error, stating: "The pilot of this flight was one of the veteran pilot instructors and trainers of young pilots, and therefore, it cannot be easily said that human error was involved in this tragic incident." Thus, the news on Saturday regarding the discovery of this aircraft's black box could help resolve the issue of what caused the aircraft to crash and disappear from radar screens. Aziz Fili, the Deputy for Urban Development of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, also confirmed the finding of the black box of the Tehran-Yasouj flight. Mr. Fili had previously reported the transfer of four bags containing the bodies of the passengers of this flight down from the heights on Friday and stated that the search for the remaining bodies continues. In this context, the search and transfer operations of the bodies of the Aseman aircraft have been halted due to bad weather.