Azerbaijan president decries Russian ‘lies’ surrounding the crashed plane
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia,” the president Ilham Aliyev said. He added that he wanted Russia to accept it was guilty of downing the plane and to punish those responsible.
People lay flowers in memory of the victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 plane crash in Kazakhstan, at an airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, 26 December 2024. [EPA-EFE/STRINGER]
Euractiv.com with Reuters Dec 30, 2024
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday (29 December) that a passenger plane that crashed last week, killing 38 people, had been damaged by accidental shooting from the ground in Russia, adding that some in Russia had lied about the cause of the disaster.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised on Saturday to Aliyev for Wednesday's "tragic incident" in Russian airspace involving Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 after Russian air defences engaged Ukrainian attack drones.
Putin apologises to Azerbaijan over 'tragic' airliner crash
The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday's disaster.
A Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting a criminal case had been opened.
"Our plane was shot down by accident," Aliyev said on state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had come under some sort of electronic jamming and had then been shot at while it was approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.
The pilots, who died in the crash, have been lauded in Azerbaijan for a landing that allowed 29 people to survive.
"Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia," Aliyev said, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to a bird strike or the explosion of some sort of gas cylinder.
"We witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter," said the Azerbaijani leader, who has close ties to Russia and was educated at one of Moscow's top universities.
Aliyev said he wanted Russia to accept it was guilty of downing the plane and to punish those responsible.
The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin on Saturday is the closest Moscow has come to accepting some blame for the disaster.Putin and Aliyev held another telephone call on Sunday, the Kremlin said. It gave no details but on Saturday it said that both civilian and military specialists were being questioned about what had taken place.
The chief of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, on a phone call assured Azerbaijan's prosecutor general that Moscow had assigned the investigation to the most experienced experts and that actions were being taken to establish the cause and circumstances of the incident.
The plane crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were attacking several cities at the time, according to the Kremlin.
Russia's state-owned TASS news agency quoted Kazakhstan's Transport Ministry as saying authorities would send the two black box flight recorders to Brazil, where the Embraer E190 passenger jet was manufactured.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
Burials
Azerbaijan paid tribute on Sunday to the pilots and passengers of the plane.
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, were given full honours at a ceremony at the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban.
"The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing," Aliyev said, praising them for sacrificing themselves.
"In order to save the passengers, they acted with great heroism and as a result of this, there were survivors," he said.
Aliyev awarded the crew posthumously with the titles of National Hero of Azerbaijan.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also awarded citizens who helped rescue the survivors, including emergency workers, medics, police and employees at the airport and a local power company.
The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern Chechnya region, before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan's presidential office said the pilots had battled to control the plane - desperately trying to find a place to land.
With holes in the fuselage, some crew injured, and a de-pressurised cabin, the pilots managed to fly across the Caspian Sea before crash-landing.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan's most sacred modern burial ground - where prominent politicians, poets and scientists are laid to rest, including Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president.
Captain Kshnyakin's daughter, Anastasia Kshnyakina, said her father was a dedicated pilot who took his responsibilities to his passengers extremely seriously.
"My father always said: when I take off, I am responsible not only for my life, but also for the lives of all passengers and crew members," Kshnyakina said.
"With his last flight, he proved what a true hero should be."
Azerbaijan president says Russia shot at its plane, lied about cause of crash
Azerbaijan president decries Russian ‘lies’ surrounding the crashed plane
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia,” the president Ilham Aliyev said. He added that he wanted Russia to accept it was guilty of downing the plane and to punish those responsible.
People lay flowers in memory of the victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 plane crash in Kazakhstan, at an airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, 26 December 2024. [EPA-EFE/STRINGER]
Euractiv.com with Reuters Dec 30, 2024
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday (29 December) that a passenger plane that crashed last week, killing 38 people, had been damaged by accidental shooting from the ground in Russia, adding that some in Russia had lied about the cause of the disaster.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised on Saturday to Aliyev for Wednesday's "tragic incident" in Russian airspace involving Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 after Russian air defences engaged Ukrainian attack drones.
Putin apologises to Azerbaijan over 'tragic' airliner crash
The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday's disaster.
A Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting a criminal case had been opened.
"Our plane was shot down by accident," Aliyev said on state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had come under some sort of electronic jamming and had then been shot at while it was approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.
The pilots, who died in the crash, have been lauded in Azerbaijan for a landing that allowed 29 people to survive.
"Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia," Aliyev said, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to a bird strike or the explosion of some sort of gas cylinder.
"We witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter," said the Azerbaijani leader, who has close ties to Russia and was educated at one of Moscow's top universities.
Aliyev said he wanted Russia to accept it was guilty of downing the plane and to punish those responsible.
The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin on Saturday is the closest Moscow has come to accepting some blame for the disaster.Putin and Aliyev held another telephone call on Sunday, the Kremlin said. It gave no details but on Saturday it said that both civilian and military specialists were being questioned about what had taken place.
The chief of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, on a phone call assured Azerbaijan's prosecutor general that Moscow had assigned the investigation to the most experienced experts and that actions were being taken to establish the cause and circumstances of the incident.
The plane crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were attacking several cities at the time, according to the Kremlin.
Russia's state-owned TASS news agency quoted Kazakhstan's Transport Ministry as saying authorities would send the two black box flight recorders to Brazil, where the Embraer E190 passenger jet was manufactured.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
Burials
Azerbaijan paid tribute on Sunday to the pilots and passengers of the plane.
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, were given full honours at a ceremony at the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban.
"The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing," Aliyev said, praising them for sacrificing themselves.
"In order to save the passengers, they acted with great heroism and as a result of this, there were survivors," he said.
Aliyev awarded the crew posthumously with the titles of National Hero of Azerbaijan.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also awarded citizens who helped rescue the survivors, including emergency workers, medics, police and employees at the airport and a local power company.
The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern Chechnya region, before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan's presidential office said the pilots had battled to control the plane - desperately trying to find a place to land.
With holes in the fuselage, some crew injured, and a de-pressurised cabin, the pilots managed to fly across the Caspian Sea before crash-landing.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan's most sacred modern burial ground - where prominent politicians, poets and scientists are laid to rest, including Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president.
Captain Kshnyakin's daughter, Anastasia Kshnyakina, said her father was a dedicated pilot who took his responsibilities to his passengers extremely seriously.
"My father always said: when I take off, I am responsible not only for my life, but also for the lives of all passengers and crew members," Kshnyakina said.
"With his last flight, he proved what a true hero should be."
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, were given full honours at a ceremony at the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban.
"The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing," Aliyev said, praising them for sacrificing themselves.
"In order to save the passengers, they acted with great heroism and as a result of this, there were survivors," he said.
Aliyev awarded the crew posthumously with the titles of National Hero of Azerbaijan.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also awarded citizens who helped rescue the survivors, including emergency workers, medics, police and employees at the airport and a local power company.
The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern Chechnya region, before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan's presidential office said the pilots had battled to control the plane - desperately trying to find a place to land.
With holes in the fuselage, some crew injured, and a de-pressurised cabin, the pilots managed to fly across the Caspian Sea before crash-landing.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan's most sacred modern burial ground - where prominent politicians, poets and scientists are laid to rest, including Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president.
Captain Kshnyakin's daughter, Anastasia Kshnyakina, said her father was a dedicated pilot who took his responsibilities to his passengers extremely seriously.
"My father always said: when I take off, I am responsible not only for my life, but also for the lives of all passengers and crew members," Kshnyakina said.
"With his last flight, he proved what a true hero should be."
Azerbaijan president says Russia shot at its plane, lied about cause of crash
ByNailia Bagirova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy
December 30, 2024
REUTERS
Baku: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that a passenger plane that crashed last week, killing 38 people, had been damaged by accidental shooting from the ground in Russia, adding that some in Russia had lied about the cause of the disaster.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to Aliyev on Saturday for Wednesday’s “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 after Russian air defences engaged Ukrainian attack drones.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a file picture
CREDIT:BLOOMBERG
A Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting that a criminal case had been opened.
“Our plane was shot down by accident,” Aliyev said on state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had come under some sort of electronic jamming and had then been shot at while it was approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.
The pilots, who died in the crash, have been lauded in Azerbaijan for a landing that allowed 29 people to survive.
Workers remove the coffins of victims of the crash victims after they were flown to an airport in Azerbaijan.
CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia,” Aliyev said, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to a bird strike or the explosion of some sort of gas cylinder.
“We witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter,” said the Azerbaijani leader, who has close ties to Russia and was educated at one of Moscow’s top universities.
Aliyev said he wanted Russia to accept it was guilty of downing the plane and to punish those responsible.
Putin and Aliyev held another telephone call on Sunday, the Kremlin said. It gave no details, but on Saturday it said that both civilian and military specialists were being questioned about what had taken place.
Rescuers work under the wreckage of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan.
CREDIT:AP
The chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, told Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general in a phone call that Moscow had assigned the investigation to the most experienced experts and that actions were being taken to establish the cause and circumstances of the incident.
The plane crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were attacking several cities at the time, the Kremlin said.
Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency quoted Kazakhstan’s Transport Ministry as saying authorities would send the two black box flight recorders to Brazil, where the Embraer E190 passenger jet was manufactured.
They would be examined by the Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Centre, which had the technical capabilities to perform the job, the ministry said.
Putin apologises over ‘tragic incident’ with Azerbaijan plane in Russian airspace
The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin on Saturday is the closest Moscow has come to accepting some blame for the disaster.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
Azerbaijan paid tribute on Sunday to the pilots and passengers of the plane.
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, were given full honours at a ceremony at the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban.
A part of Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan.
CREDIT:NNA\EBENNETT
“The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing,” Aliyev said, praising them for sacrificing themselves.
“In order to save the passengers, they acted with great heroism and as a result of this, there were survivors,” he said.
Aliyev awarded the crew posthumously with the titles of National Hero of Azerbaijan.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also awarded citizens who helped rescue the survivors, including emergency workers, medics, police and employees at the airport and a local power company.
Updated
Mystery and speculation surround cause of deadly Kazakhstan plane crash
The jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, before veering hundreds of kilometres off course across the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan’s presidential office said the pilots had battled to control the plane, desperately trying to find a place to land.
With holes in the fuselage, some crew injured, and a de-pressurised cabin, the pilots managed to fly across the Caspian Sea before crash landing.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan’s most sacred modern burial ground and is where prominent politicians, poets and scientists are laid to rest, including Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president.
Reuters
Azerbaijani president demands Russia admit guilt in fatal plane crash, pay compensation
December 30, 2024
Source: Meduza
Azerbaijan has issued three demands to the Russian authorities regarding the December 25 Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that claimed 38 lives, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with state television on Sunday.
“First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must acknowledge its responsibility. Third, those responsible must be punished and held criminally liable, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state, as well as to the affected passengers and crew members. These are our conditions. The first of them was fulfilled yesterday, and I hope the others will also be met,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev added that these demands were officially conveyed to Moscow on December 27.
“There is nothing extraordinary or excessive in these demands,” he said. “They are based on international norms and principles of ordinary human decency.”
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane traveling from Baku to Grozny crashed Wednesday morning near Aktau in western Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Euronews and Reuters, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that the crash was caused by a Russian air defense system. Euronews stated that a missile was fired at the plane during “drone activity” over Grozny and detonated near the aircraft, damaging its structure.
On December 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Aliyev to apologize for the “tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace” and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
ByNailia Bagirova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy
December 30, 2024
REUTERS
Baku: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that a passenger plane that crashed last week, killing 38 people, had been damaged by accidental shooting from the ground in Russia, adding that some in Russia had lied about the cause of the disaster.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to Aliyev on Saturday for Wednesday’s “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 after Russian air defences engaged Ukrainian attack drones.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a file picture
CREDIT:BLOOMBERG
A Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting that a criminal case had been opened.
“Our plane was shot down by accident,” Aliyev said on state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had come under some sort of electronic jamming and had then been shot at while it was approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.
The pilots, who died in the crash, have been lauded in Azerbaijan for a landing that allowed 29 people to survive.
Workers remove the coffins of victims of the crash victims after they were flown to an airport in Azerbaijan.
CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia,” Aliyev said, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to a bird strike or the explosion of some sort of gas cylinder.
“We witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter,” said the Azerbaijani leader, who has close ties to Russia and was educated at one of Moscow’s top universities.
Aliyev said he wanted Russia to accept it was guilty of downing the plane and to punish those responsible.
Putin and Aliyev held another telephone call on Sunday, the Kremlin said. It gave no details, but on Saturday it said that both civilian and military specialists were being questioned about what had taken place.
Rescuers work under the wreckage of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan.
CREDIT:AP
The chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, told Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general in a phone call that Moscow had assigned the investigation to the most experienced experts and that actions were being taken to establish the cause and circumstances of the incident.
The plane crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were attacking several cities at the time, the Kremlin said.
Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency quoted Kazakhstan’s Transport Ministry as saying authorities would send the two black box flight recorders to Brazil, where the Embraer E190 passenger jet was manufactured.
They would be examined by the Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Centre, which had the technical capabilities to perform the job, the ministry said.
Putin apologises over ‘tragic incident’ with Azerbaijan plane in Russian airspace
The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin on Saturday is the closest Moscow has come to accepting some blame for the disaster.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
Azerbaijan paid tribute on Sunday to the pilots and passengers of the plane.
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, were given full honours at a ceremony at the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban.
A part of Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan.
CREDIT:NNA\EBENNETT
“The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing,” Aliyev said, praising them for sacrificing themselves.
“In order to save the passengers, they acted with great heroism and as a result of this, there were survivors,” he said.
Aliyev awarded the crew posthumously with the titles of National Hero of Azerbaijan.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also awarded citizens who helped rescue the survivors, including emergency workers, medics, police and employees at the airport and a local power company.
Updated
Mystery and speculation surround cause of deadly Kazakhstan plane crash
The jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, before veering hundreds of kilometres off course across the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan’s presidential office said the pilots had battled to control the plane, desperately trying to find a place to land.
With holes in the fuselage, some crew injured, and a de-pressurised cabin, the pilots managed to fly across the Caspian Sea before crash landing.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan’s most sacred modern burial ground and is where prominent politicians, poets and scientists are laid to rest, including Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president.
Reuters
Azerbaijani president demands Russia admit guilt in fatal plane crash, pay compensation
December 30, 2024
Source: Meduza
Azerbaijan has issued three demands to the Russian authorities regarding the December 25 Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that claimed 38 lives, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with state television on Sunday.
“First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must acknowledge its responsibility. Third, those responsible must be punished and held criminally liable, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state, as well as to the affected passengers and crew members. These are our conditions. The first of them was fulfilled yesterday, and I hope the others will also be met,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev added that these demands were officially conveyed to Moscow on December 27.
“There is nothing extraordinary or excessive in these demands,” he said. “They are based on international norms and principles of ordinary human decency.”
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane traveling from Baku to Grozny crashed Wednesday morning near Aktau in western Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Euronews and Reuters, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that the crash was caused by a Russian air defense system. Euronews stated that a missile was fired at the plane during “drone activity” over Grozny and detonated near the aircraft, damaging its structure.
On December 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Aliyev to apologize for the “tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace” and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
December 30, 2024
Source: Meduza
Azerbaijan has issued three demands to the Russian authorities regarding the December 25 Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that claimed 38 lives, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with state television on Sunday.
“First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must acknowledge its responsibility. Third, those responsible must be punished and held criminally liable, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state, as well as to the affected passengers and crew members. These are our conditions. The first of them was fulfilled yesterday, and I hope the others will also be met,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev added that these demands were officially conveyed to Moscow on December 27.
“There is nothing extraordinary or excessive in these demands,” he said. “They are based on international norms and principles of ordinary human decency.”
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane traveling from Baku to Grozny crashed Wednesday morning near Aktau in western Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Euronews and Reuters, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that the crash was caused by a Russian air defense system. Euronews stated that a missile was fired at the plane during “drone activity” over Grozny and detonated near the aircraft, damaging its structure.
On December 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Aliyev to apologize for the “tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace” and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
Azerbaijan's president says plane was hit over Russia in unintentional incident0
- Xinhua, December 30, 2024
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 25, 2024 shows the plane crash site near Aktau, Kazakhstan. [Photo/Xinhua]
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that a civilian Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) aircraft, which crash-landed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, was hit over Russia, though the incident was unintentional.
In an interview with Azerbaijan Television, Aliyev revealed that the jet sustained external damage over Russian territory near Grozny, with electronic warfare systems destabilizing its controls and a ground fire severely damaging the plane.
Evidence of shrapnel and bullet holes in the fuselage clearly indicated the plane had been attacked, said Aliyev.
"We do not believe this was deliberate, but it is critical that Russia acknowledges responsibility," Aliyev said, noting that Azerbaijan has demanded an apology, accountability, and compensation.
An Embraer 190 aircraft operated by AZAL, flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, with 62 passengers and five crew members on board. Thirty-eight people were killed in the crash, and 29 were rescued, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations said.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the "tragic incident" in Russian airspace during a phone conversation with Aliyev.
IATA calls for thorough Azerbaijan
Airlines crash probe
Scene from the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25, 2024.
(Photo by Issa Tazhenbayev / AFP)
AFP
29 Dec 2024 -
Geneva: The International Air Transport Association called on Sunday for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the fatal Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash.
IATA said that if a probe finds the passenger plane was brought down by combatants, the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
The AZAL plane crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people of the 67 people on board.
Azerbaijani officials have suggested the aircraft was hit by a Russian air-defence system as it tried to land in Grozny, capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
"Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of those who have perished," said IATA's director general Willie Walsh.
"Out of respect for the 38 people who lost their lives and to those who survived, we must find out why this catastrophe happened and take action to ensure there is never a repeat.
"Civil aircraft must never be the intended or accidental target of military operations. The strong potential that Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 could have been the victim of military operations, as indicated by several governments including Russia and Azerbaijan, places the highest priority on conducting a thorough, transparent, and impartial investigation."
Walsh said an interim report should be published within 30 days.
"Should the conclusion be that this tragedy was the responsibility of combatants, the perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice," said Walsh.
Geneva-based IATA represents some 340 airlines comprising over 80 percent of global air traffic.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia on Sunday of firing at the jet before it crashed and of initially trying to cover up the cause of the fatal disaster, demanding that Moscow admit guilt.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russian air defence was operating in Grozny when the plane tried to land, before diverting and crashing in western Kazakhstan.
AFP
29 Dec 2024 -
Geneva: The International Air Transport Association called on Sunday for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the fatal Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash.
IATA said that if a probe finds the passenger plane was brought down by combatants, the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
The AZAL plane crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people of the 67 people on board.
Azerbaijani officials have suggested the aircraft was hit by a Russian air-defence system as it tried to land in Grozny, capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
"Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of those who have perished," said IATA's director general Willie Walsh.
"Out of respect for the 38 people who lost their lives and to those who survived, we must find out why this catastrophe happened and take action to ensure there is never a repeat.
"Civil aircraft must never be the intended or accidental target of military operations. The strong potential that Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 could have been the victim of military operations, as indicated by several governments including Russia and Azerbaijan, places the highest priority on conducting a thorough, transparent, and impartial investigation."
Walsh said an interim report should be published within 30 days.
"Should the conclusion be that this tragedy was the responsibility of combatants, the perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice," said Walsh.
Geneva-based IATA represents some 340 airlines comprising over 80 percent of global air traffic.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia on Sunday of firing at the jet before it crashed and of initially trying to cover up the cause of the fatal disaster, demanding that Moscow admit guilt.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russian air defence was operating in Grozny when the plane tried to land, before diverting and crashing in western Kazakhstan.
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