Azerbaijani plane crashes in Kazakhstan.
Baku: Azerbaijan has taken a major step after the crash of its plane in Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan has suspended all its flights to Russia. The airline announced on Friday the suspension of flights to several airports in Russia. The company made the announcement citing potential flight safety risks after one of its planes crashed. Many experts blamed the failure of the Russian air defense system for the accident.
The Embraer 190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Aviation Company took off from the capital Baku on Wednesday for the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus. Shortly after takeoff, its route was changed. The aircraft crashed while attempting to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan after crossing the Caspian Sea. 38 people died and all 29 people were injured in the accident. Officials in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia did not release information about the possible cause of the crash until an official investigation was completed, but an Azerbaijani lawmaker blamed Moscow for the accident. Rasim Musabekov told Azerbaijan’s Turan news agency on Thursday that the plane was fired upon in the sky over Grozny.
Air crash investigation underway
He asked Russia to officially apologize. Asked about Musabekov’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, saying it would be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash. “The air crash is being investigated and we don’t think we have the right to make any assessments until the investigation concludes,” Peskov told reporters. Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement that the country’s investigators were working in Grozny as part of the investigation into the crash. When the official investigation into the crash began, some aviation experts said that holes seen in the rear of the plane suggested that it may have been hit by a Russian air defense system in response to a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP)
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