BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 26. Unfortunately, during the crash, two experienced pilots and a flight attendant lost their lives, and their heroism will never be forgotten, President of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC (AZAL) Samir Rzayev, told reporters, TurkicWorld reports.
Rzayev noted that the black box of the plane has already been found, and procedures for its analysis are being carried out per the international aviation conventions.
"The aircraft had undergone major repairs in October, passed its technical inspection, and was operated by experienced pilots with more than 15,000 flight hours. However, the causes of the incident are still under investigation.
Preparations are underway to transport the surviving passengers and the bodies of the deceased from Aktau to Azerbaijan," he said.
To note, AZAL's Embraer 190 passenger plane on the Baku-Grozny route crashed 3 km away from Aktau airport on December 25.
A total of 67 people (62 passengers and 5 crew members) were on board the Embraer 190 airplane, flying Baku-Grozny, which crashed in Aktau.
Following the crash of the passenger airplane near Aktau, 27 people were hospitalized. Of them, 15 people are citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 8 - of the Russian Federation, and 3 - of the Kyrgyz Republic. The identity of one person has not been established yet.
Of the victims hospitalized, 11 are being treated in the intensive care unit, 13 - in the traumatology department, 2 - in the neurosurgery department, and 1 - in the surgical department. These persons are under the control of professional doctors from Kazakhstan and those expelled from Azerbaijan and Russia. They were provided with prompt and specialized medical and psychological treatment.
Both crew pilots as well as the flight stewardess were lost, but two crew members survived.
December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
