Kazakhstan Says Azerbaijan, Russia Will Not Participate In Forensic Investigation Of Aktau Plane Crash

ISTANBUL, Dec 27 (Bernama-AA) -- A top Kazakh official said law enforcement agencies from Azerbaijan and Russia will not be allowed to participate in the forensic investigation of Wednesday's Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash near the city of Aktau, Anadolu Agency reported.

“Law enforcement agencies of Russia and Azerbaijan will not be allowed to participate in the forensic investigation,” Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said during a briefing in the city of Aktau, according to Kazinform news agency.

Expressing that law enforcement from the two countries are unable to do so based on the procedures indicated in Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code, Bozumbayev said they will, however, be allowed to participate in the investigation of the crash.

Commenting on the reasons behind the incident, Bozumbayev addressed media reports on the matter, saying Astana has not received any official versions of the incident from either Baku or Moscow.

“Journalistic guesses and research are based on some government sources. We are in constant contact with colleagues from Azerbaijan. No one has told us any versions yet, officially we have not received any version from either Russia or Azerbaijan. Therefore, it is impossible to refute any version,” he added.

Earlier on Thursday, senior Azerbaijani officials confirmed to Anadolu the validity of media reports suggesting that the plane crash was caused by a Russian missile system.

This came after Azerbaijani media, citing government sources, reported that the preliminary results of the investigation into the incident determined that the plane was attacked by a Pantsir missile system as it approached the city of Grozny.

On Wednesday, an AZAL flight with 67 people on board, travelling from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to the city of Grozny in the Russian Republic of Chechnya, crashed about 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from Aktau, located on the Caspian Sea coast.

According to Kazakh officials, 38 people were killed in the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft, while 29 others survived.

Both Azerbaijan Airlines and Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said preliminary findings pointed to a collision with birds as the cause of the crash.

However, footage from the crash site shows large holes in the tail of the plane, sparking speculation that it may have been brought down by an attack.

-- BERNAMA-AA