ICAO Releases Report Regarding Hijacking Of Ryanair Plane By Lukashenka

The report has been submitted to all 193 member states of the organisation.

ICAO has issued a fact-finding report on the boarding of Ryanair flight FR4978, carrying Raman Praatasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, at Minsk airport. The report has been submitted to all 193 member-states of the organization, including 36 countries, elected to the special Council.

The report is said to be based solely on data and information that countries have made available to ICAO and includes operational details, technical analysis of various measures and decisions taken.

The report was compiled by an enquiry team comprising ICAO experts in aviation safety, aircraft operations, air navigation and international air law.

On January 31 ICAO Council representatives will hold a discussion based on the report findings and will decide what to do next.

We remind you that on May 23, the Ryanair plane made an emergency landing in Minsk. The airliner was en route from Athens to Vilnius. After landing, law enforcers detained former editor-in-chief of the NEXTA telegram channel Pratasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.

After that, the EU officially banned all Belarusian air carriers from using its airspace. Also a number of countries urged their national airlines to change the routes of their flights so that they would not fly into the airspace of Belarus.

On August 23, representatives of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) arrived in Minsk. The purpose was to investigate the landing of the Boeing 737 aircraft of the Ryanair airline at the National airport "Minsk". The report on the investigation of the incident was to be considered in November, then it was postponed until January 2022.