Azerbaijan, Baku, July 21 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Today, all crew members of a cargo airplane IL-76 of the Azerbaijani Silk Way Airlines crashed in Afghanistan are regarded as the missing people and the search for bodies is underway, Deputy Director General of Azerbaijan Airlines Ilham Amirov said at a news conference in Baku today. He led an Azerbaijani commission investigating the causes of the Azerbaijani plane crashed in Afghanistan.
They can be confirmed as the dead after all the relevant legal procedures carried out.
Probability of discovering the dead bodies of crew members is very small due to heavy fire occurred after the crash, Amirov said.
Five members of the nine-person crew on the Silk Way Company cargo aircraft were Azerbaijani citizens. The other victims were Uzbek citizens. All crew members of the cargo aircraft were killed.
Amirov said currently the Uzbek side recalled its employees working in the Silk Way Airlines until the crash reasons defined. He said five people from Uzbekistan has worked in Azerbaijan.
Nine crew members and a total of 18 tons of cargo were onboard the plane which was 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 was built in 2005 with a carrying capacity of 40 tons and passed a full inspection in February 2011. It passed the subsequent inspection in June 2011.
The Azerbaijani commission investigating the causes of the Azerbaijani plane crash in Afghanistan stated that among the primary explanations for the plane crash is that the "Taliban shot down it".
"The version that the Taliban shot down the Azerbaijani cargo plane in Afghanistan is one of the primary theories," Amirov earlier said at a news conference.
Azerbaijan has officially sent a second note to the Afghan Foreign Ministry for assistance in the delivery of the crew members' dead bodies.