ASTANA, December 26. /TASS/. The crew of the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan could not keep it in the air continuously due to the failure of a number of control systems, Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabayev said at a briefing.

"The first signal came at 10:43 a.m. (3:43 p.m. GMT) to the dispatchers of the Aktobe regional dispatch center from the dispatcher of the Rostov zone about the aircraft Embraer 190, performing flight 8243. The plane was flying from the city of Grozny to an alternate airfield, after which the aircraft's control systems failed before entering Kazakhstan's airspace. <...> The crew was unable to maintain a steady course and altitude," he said.

The minister noted that the information was also received that "after providing data on the weather in Makhachkala and Baku, the crew decided to fly to Aktau".