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Head of commission investigating crash of Azerbaijani plane in Afghanistan holds press conference

21 July 2011 13:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ali Ahmadov â€“ APA. Azerbaijani co-chair of the commission set up to investigate the causes of the Azerbaijani planeâ€™s crash in Afghanistan, vice-president of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Ilham Amirov held a press conference, APA reports.

Ilham Amirov said several Azerbaijani members of the commission returned, as the term of their visa expired.
â€œSome continue working together with the commission in Afghanistan,â€ he said.

He said the main aim of the commission is to take the bodies of the crew members and hand over to their families.
â€œWe must participate in the investigation, find out the causes of the accident and inform the public and international organizations,â€ he said.

Ilham Amirov said nothing is known about those who died in the crash.
â€œThe new report is that one of the flight recorders has been found. Moreover, we have obtained photos of the crash site. The photos prove that this plane belongs to us,â€ he said.

Ilham Amirov said it is very difficult to take the bodies. Strong blast happened there. The dispatcher at Kabul airport also saw the blast.
â€œThe weather was favorable that day and according to the reports of the airports, the fire that broke out at 1 oâ€™clock at night lasted for about two hours. It is not convincing that a body will be found at the site. The Afghan side, ISAF did not continue their attempts to reach the site of crash. But even if it is possible to reach the site, it is impossible say that bodies will be found there,â€ he said.

Video describing the commission membersâ€™ attempts to approach the crash site was screened at the event.

Head of the commissionâ€™s delegation sent to Afghanistan, director of Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Administration Arif Mammadov also attended the press conference.

On July 6, 2011, at about 00.10, while preparing to land in Bagram airport, the communication with IL-76 4K-AZ 55 belonging to Azerbaijanâ€™s Silk Way aviation company suddenly broke off and its view disappeared in radars. According to statement made by Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Administration, the aircraft collided with unknown object in the air. It is supposed that the aircraft collided with unknown object in the air. Earlier, a representative of the movement "Taliban" Zabibulla Modzhahid told Afghan media that Azerbaijani plane was shot down by Taliban.

The plane implementing the flight on Baku-Bagram route with 18 tons of cargo took off from Heydar Aliyev International Airport at 21.26 (local time of Baku), on July 5, 2011. Before this flight the plane flied on Kuwait-Baku route and no disorder was recorded during this flight.

Ä°l-76 4K-AZ 55 aircraft was produced in 2005 and last time it passed tech inspection in February of 2011 and next time in June. All 9 members of crew team have been dead. 5 of them are the citizens of Azerbaijan, 4 â€“ Uzbekistan.