Azerbaijan, Baku, July 8 / Trend S.Agayeva /
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan Dashgin Shikarov said representatives of a special Azerbaijani commission to investigate the causes of the Azerbaijani plane crash in Afghanistan have still been unable to reach the crash site in Afghanistan due to the location's complicated situation.
"Coalition forces perform anti-terrorist actions in the area of the crash, thus making it difficult and dangerous to get there," he told Trend.
He said the members of the commission, including representatives from the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration and Silk Way Company, which owns the aircraft, would have to reach the site by helicopter and walk through the mountains while under fire.
"Because of this, the operation to find the black box and the dead bodies of the crew failed," he added.
Five members of the nine-person crew on the "Azerbaijan Airlines" cargo aircraft were Azerbaijani citizens. The other victims were Uzbek citizens, the ambassador said. All crew members of the "Azerbaijan Airlines" cargo aircraft were killed.
Shikarov said that the explanation of a technical malfunction in the aircraft is not true. "The aircraft met all the requirements from a technical point of view and the aircraft had an experienced crew," he said.
A total of 18 tons of cargo was on board the plane en route from Baku to Bagram. The plane picked up its cargo at the Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport and took off at 21:26 (local time).
The plane with a carrying capacity of 40 tons was built in 2005 and passed a full inspection in February 2011. It passed the subsequent inspection in June 2011.