BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 29. Being a colleague of Igor Kshnyakin and a captain who worked side by side with him, I can say with full confidence that during the accident Igor fully utilized all his accumulated life and piloting experience and did his best until the last second, Captain Nazim Jafarov, who worked with Igor Kshnyakin for many years said, Trend reports.
He made the remark at a farewell ceremony at Heydar Aliyev International Airport with three crew members—pilots Igor Kshnyakin and Alexander Kalyaninov and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva, who died in a plane crash near Aktau.
“It is very heavy for me to talk here today. Because with Igor Kshnyakin, we worked side by side for 45 years. We, two Baku residents, enrolled together in the School of Aviation in 1979. There, Igor and I developed a friendship; we can say kinship. Having returned to Azerbaijan, we devoted all our life and activity to the aviation of Azerbaijan. I express my deepest condolences to Igor's family, his children, who are here today,'' he added.
On December 25, a passenger plane, an Embraer 190, belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), flying on the Baku-Grozny route, crashed 3 kilometers from Aktau airport.
A total of 67 people (62 passengers and 5 crew members) were on board the airplane.
On December 26, 14 victims and the bodies of four dead were delivered to Azerbaijan.
The bodies of three crew members (pilots Igor Kshnyakin and Alexander Kalyaninov and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva), as well as 21 passengers, were delivered on December 28.