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Local police find flight recorder of Azerbaijani plane crashed in Afghanistan

21 July 2011 14:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ali Ahmadov â€“ APA. The flight recorder of the Azerbaijani plane that had crashed in Afghanistan was found by the police of Parwan province, 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 said at the press conference, APA reports.

He said the Afghan co-chair of the commission has the flight recorder.
â€œIt will be sent to the Moscow office of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in a few days. We have told them that according to the international convention, the flight recorder is to be opened with the participation of the representatives of both sides â€“ Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. We asked them to read the flight recorder in our presence.â€

Ilham Amirov said parachutists can not approach the site, either.
â€œIt is dangerous and this attempt would result in human loss. We have involved Azerbaijani embassy in Pakistan and Afghanistan, US embassy in Azerbaijan in order to take the bodies. After I saw these photos I understood why the Afghan side approaches our attempts cold-bloodedly. They know that even if it is possible to approach the site at the cost of losses, it is difficult to find the bodies. There was much fuel reserve in the tank of the plane. As a result of it the fire that followed the blast lasted long. But we consider the crew members missing. According to the rules, their search will continue. If the bodies are not found within six months, they will be considered dead,â€ he said.

Head of the commission said it was not clarified whether the plane had been shot or not.
â€œThere is such a supposition, there are also other versions, they are being considered,â€ he said.

Ilham Amirov underlined that flights from Azerbaijan to Afghanistan were not suspended.
â€œFlights are operated from Kabul and Bagram to other airports,â€ he said.

He said after the crash the citizens of Uzbekistan working for Silk Way stopped their activity.
â€œUzbekistan also suspended its flights,â€ he said.

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.