Montreal, Canada:
The UN aviation agency mentioned Wednesday it will release an interim report next week on the diversion of a Ryanair flight by Belarus that brought on a worldwide outcry.
The United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization last month launched a “fact-finding investigation” into the forced grounding of the Athens to Vilnius flight, which was carrying dissident Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who had been subsequently arrested right after the plane landed.
“An interim report will be presented to the ICAO Council by the end of its current session, on or near 23 June,” the ICAO mentioned in a statement.
The Montreal-based agency mentioned Belarus and Poland have supplied some “preliminary details” for the ongoing probe, even though the ICAO continues to seek information and facts from Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and Switzerland.
A final report is anticipated to be submitted to the ICAO Council — a governing body made up of 36 member states — in September.
On May 23, Belarusian site visitors controllers told Ryanair pilots to divert the plane, citing a bomb threat that proved to be false and scrambling a military jet to accompany the plane.
It was forced to land in Minsk exactly where Protasevich and Sapega had been arrested.
Britain and the European Union responded by telling airlines to stay clear of Belarusian airspace and banning the ex-Soviet country’s flagship carrier Belavia.
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