В"I am categorically against statements on possible causes of the crash related to the defect of the AN-140-100 aircraft and find these statements premature”, the Charge-d’Affaires of Ukraine in Azerbaijan Igor Kizima said in his exclusive statement to Trend.
According to him, a joint commission on the crash investigation is currently working in Azerbaijan. The commission comprises about 20 experts from Ukraine, among which representatives of the Kharkov aircraft producer factory, designers, manufacturers of the airplane various components, including motors, and representatives of AZAL and the International Aviation Committee. В"It is a very competent commission and none of its members undertook the responsibility to put forward assumptions on possible causes of the crash”, the diplomat said.
Speaking on the commission’s work, Kizima noted, it is not clear yet, how much their work will take and how quickly their results are to be expected. According to him, the first joint sitting of the Ukrainian and Azerbaijani experts and representatives of the international aviation committee chaired by the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizade took place. The commission faces a huge amount of work, commencing with the air crew’s readiness, passengers personalities, studying of the luggage content on the board, weather conditions, the diplomat said. He has not also ruled out the possibility of checking for availability of various unauthorized highly explosive goods on board.
The crash of the aircraft AN-140-100 produced at Kharkov aviation plant (Ukraine) occurred on 23 December 2005 in Azerbaijan 18 km from the runway of the international airport named after Heydar Aliyev (Baku) at about 22.27 of the local time. At the result of it 23 persons died. The aircraft was owned by the Azerbaijan state concern Azerbaijan Hava Yollari (AZAL) and performed the flight Baku-Aktau (Kazakhstan).