BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. Russia's Grozny airport was already halted for flights following the strike on the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane board, Trend reports via the Russian VChK-OGPU Telegram channel.
According to the media, this fact confirms the version that the plane was hit by air defense systems over Grozny.
"As follows from the transcript of the negotiations between the aircraft crew and the dispatcher, the 'bird strike', which the pilot reported to the dispatcher in Grozny, occurred at 08:16. As it was determined, the 'Carpet' plan, under which all civilian aircraft were supposed to leave the danger zone, was implemented one minute after the incident, at 08:17. Apparently, this was after it became clear that the aircraft had been struck," the media said.
The media claimed that the crew was not warned about any restrictions due to possible UAV attacks.
"If the 'Carpet' plan had been implemented before the strike on the aircraft, the crew should have been informed about it, but according to the transcript of the negotiations, there were no warnings. The flight operations manager, responsible that day, only received information about the airport closure for flights from the military at 08:21, five minutes after the strike," the media emphasized.
The tragedy occurred on December 25, when an Embraer 190 plane operated by AZAL, en route from Baku to Grozny, crashed just 3 kilometers from Aktau Airport.
The Embraer 190 was carrying 67 people, including 62 passengers and five crew members.
In the aftermath of the crash, 27 people were hospitalized. Among them, 15 are citizens of Azerbaijan, eight are from Russia, and three are from Kyrgyzstan. The identity of one individual remains unknown.
Of those hospitalized, 11 are being treated in intensive care, 13 in the trauma ward, two in the neurosurgery ward, and one in the surgical ward. They are under the care of experienced doctors from Kazakhstan, as well as specialists sent from Azerbaijan and Russia. All patients have received prompt and specialized medical and psychological support.
The crash claimed the lives of both pilots and a flight attendant. Two other crew members survived.
December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
The black box of the plane has already been found, and procedures for its analysis are being carried out per the international aviation conventions. An investigation into the causes of the disaster is currently underway. Final conclusions will be made after completion of all necessary research and data analysis.
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