Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke to his Iranian counterpart late last night, and pushed for immediate access to the site of the fatal Ukraine International Airlines plane crash that left at least 63 Canadians dead.
The Kyiv-bound flight crashed Wednesday morning, minutes afer taking off from the Tehran airport, killing all 176 people aboard. Most of those travellers were connecting to Canada, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, including dozens of Canadian citizens. Those victims included entire families, academics, students and newlyweds.
According to the minister’s office, Champagne stressed to Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif “the need for Canadian officials to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash.
The readout of the call didn’t say whether Zarif agreed to Champagne’s requests.
“Minister Champagne also condemned Iranian strikes targeting bases in Iraq where coalition forces, including Canadians, are stationed,” notes the statement.
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Article URL : https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/champagne-iran-plane-crash-1.5420398