Yesterday (all articles about it appeared today) the “Kiev Scientific Research Inst. of Forensic Expertise of the Min. of Justice of Ukraine” released a video in which the head of the Ukranian investigative committee (a certain Ruvin) gives us a glimpse of how the investigation in Iran unfolded.
On the first day the Ukrainian investigators arrived (January 9t:), the Iranian officials “gave us the possibility to look at the remains of the airplane. They said that they were in a hangar. Turns out the hangar, when we arrived there at the end of the day, is just a heap of airplane rubble, that they had gathered together by bulldozer. But they (i.e. the Iranian officials) work only until 4pm”… so the Ukrainians must stop working.
On the second day a part of the investigators goes to the crash site (others go to see the flight recorders and try to access the recording of the conversations between ATC and pilots). Ruvin comments: “At the crash site we saw a lot of unknown people - Iranians that were collecting remains, things, debris. Some were collecting metallic wrecks for scrapping, some (took things) as a souvenir”.
As regards the airplane remains, Ruvin says that the investigators wondered “Where is the lower part of the airplane, where is the cockpit? Because we could not see them.” After they sorted out the remains, they noticed that the lower part of the plane “was completely missing, and that also the cockpit was missing. Only the cockpit was brought us later, a little piece of the frontal part… The seats were still missing. Not a single seat. Where they kept the plane remains (i.e. in “the hangar”), we didn’t find any”
Ruvin adds that later on -at the crash site- the Ukrainian investigators found “fragments” of 4 seats, and collected them.
He says the investigators looked for the passengers’ mobiles and tablets. They found some, and also some cards, and document bags, and on them they saw the signs of shrapnel impact. Those signs were found also on the plane remains
When it was clear what happened (it was already night//Ruvin doesn’t say “what” happened), the Ukrainians told the Iranians. At that point “a lot of cars came”, with representatives of the Iranian government. “They looked, asked to cover (everything) with plastic sheets and (also asked) not to film with mobile phone and said “We’ll deal with it tomorrow”. On the following day Iranian authorities admitted that the airplane had been shot down.
Full article with video link (in Ukrainian) gordonua .com / news/localnews/irancy-zabirali-na-pamyat-i-kak-metallolom-veshchi-s-mesta-katastrofy-samoleta-mau-chlen-ukrainskoy-gruppy-1483152.html