“It’s dangerous to speculate on possible causes,” Trudeau said on Wednesday evening.
Trudeau asked Transportation Minister Marc Garneau to elaborate and he too echoed the prime minister’s position on speculating about possible causes.
However, Garneau did say that according to the available radar data, the UIA airplane had a "very, very standard departure," but that soon contact was lost, suggesting that something very unusual had happened.
Garneau went on to say that there are a number of possibilities that would explain the change.
Trudeau said he is confident the Canadian authorities will have a role to play in the investigation of the crash, adding that it is in everyone’s mutual interest to get to the bottom of things.
The prime minister noted that Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will speak with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif about the possibility of allowing a Canadian consular envoy to enter Iran, a country where Canada does not have a diplomatic presence.
Trudeau has also said that he spoke to US President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday.
On 8 January, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Boeing 737-800 flight PS752 bound for Kiev, Ukraine, crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran's Khomeini Airport. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crewmembers.
The majority of passengers came from Iran – 82 in total. The plane was also carrying 63 Canadians, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, 3 Germans, and 3 Brits. It also carried 11 Ukrainians, 9 of whom were crew members.
