Aqtau Plane Crash: Embraer and CENIPA Specialists Flew Out to Kazakhstan

Azarbaijan and AzAl airline representatives are already working at the site, Orda.kz reports, citing Kazakhstan's Ministry of Transport.

The department has stated that a commission to investigate the air crash has been created under the ministry itself.

Regulations require this, the department explained.

Employees of the Department for the Investigation of Accidents and Incidents in Transport are at the scene of the aviation accident, where they are conducting the field stage of the investigation,  the statement said.

Representatives of the State Civil Aviation Agency of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan Airlines have arrived in Aqtau.

Representatives of the aircraft manufacturer Embraer and the Brazilian Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Aviation Accidents (CENIPA) also flew to Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Transport added.

As of yesterday, a government commission chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev has been operating in Aqtau. Its members visited the incident scene and later met with the injured.

An Embraer-190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines, flying from Baku to Grozny, crashed in Aqtau on December 25.

38 people died in the plane crash; 29 survived and were taken to hospital.

The bodies of Azerbaijani passengers and crew members killed in the crash airport will be delivered to Azerbaijan soon, according to Azerbaijan's Ministry of Emergency Situations and Azerbaijan Airlines.

A special airline flight is planned to transport the injured as well.

December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's government commission held a meeting of the headquarters set up to oversee the incident's aftermath.

Reportedly, financial assistance will be provided to the families of Kazakhstan's citizens who died in the crash.

Relatives of deceased foreign citizens will also be given all necessary assistance.

Original Authors: Igor Ulitin, Oksana Matvienko