MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. The report about the AZAL flight crash, released by the Kazakh Transport Ministry, shows that it was the crew’s decision to divert the plane to Aktau Airport, the Russian air transport regulator, Rosaviatsiya, said in a statement.
"The preliminary report confirms the earlier information that it was an independent decision by the crew to choose Aktau as a landing option. The crew rejected the proposal from Russian air traffic controllers to use alternate airports in Makhachkala or Mineralnye Vody, even as those airfields were technically ready to receive the flight," the statement reads.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Transport Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan released the early results of its investigation into the Azal plane crash near Aktau Airport. The 53-page document, seen by TASS, points out that the initial inspection of the wreckage revealed perforating holes, while damage and small foreign metallic objects were found inside the plane. Photographs to this effect were attached to the report. However, as the document noted, they had been sent for forensic tests "in order to determine the nature and origin of the puncture damage caused by foreign objects." Additionally, the report cites exchanges between pilots and air traffic controllers.
An Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Embraer 190 plane, en route from Baku to Grozny, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on December 25, 2024. The aircraft carried 62 passengers, mainly citizens of Azerbaijan, as well as nationals of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and five crew members. Thirty-eight people were killed, while 29 others survived the crash.
Astana said earlier that it had given access to materials from its probe to Russia and Azerbaijan, too. The flight recorders have been decoded in Brazil where the crashed plane was manufactured.