Azerbaijan , Baku, July 9 / Trend S. Aliyev /
An Azerbaijani commission to investigate the causes of the Azerbaijani plane crash in Afghanistan has stated about a big possibility of the death of all crew members of the plane.
The cargo aircraft IL-76 4K-AZ 55 of the Azerbaijani air company Silk Way crashed at 2:10 a.m. [Baku time] on Tuesday in the Afghan province of Parwan, north of Kabul.
"We can confirm with high probability that this plane really belongs to Silk Way Company, and people who were on this board were killed," Deputy Director General of Azerbaijan Airlines Ilham Amirov said at a news conference.
Amirov said the preliminary conclusions made on the basis of photographs taken from a helicopter flying over the crash site.
"Our main task now is to bring the dead bodies to Baku and conduct investigation to determine the cause," he added.
According to the international conventions, the party, in whose territory the incident occurred, should hold investigation.
"They [the Afghan side] have considered the case themselves," he said. "Azerbaijani experts are now in Afghanistan and enter the Afghan commission.".
Nine crew members and a total of 18 tons of cargo were 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.
