Canadian officials on Sunday said Iran has issued additional visas to a team of investigators who will arrive in the country on Monday to assist in the investigation of the deadly plane crash near Tehran.
Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne made the announcement on Twitter, writing that three officials from a deployment team arrived in Tehran on Saturday and set up a base of operations.
Eight more members were expected to arrive in Iran, and another in Ankara on Monday, he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney on Sunday during a memorial in Edmonton for the victims of the Ukrainian plane disaster in Iran this past week. (The Canadian Press via AP)
“We expect the Standing Rapid Deployment Team (SRDT) to be fully in place to do their important work by January 14,” he wrote.
Iranian officials on Saturday acknowledged that they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane after it took off Wednesday from Tehran’s international airport.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the aerospace division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, told state TV his unit accepted “full responsibility” for shooting down the aircraft. He said when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.”
IRAN PROTESTERS CHANT ‘DEATH TO ENGLAND’ OUTSIDE BRITISH EMBASSY
Of the 176 passengers who died in the jetliner crash, at least 63 were Canadian. The plane also carried 82 Iranians and 11 Ukrainians.
Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada.
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Canada had requested to be a part of the investigation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday told reporters on Saturday that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had committed to working with Canadian investigators.
Fox News’ Dom Calicchio and Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.