Kazakh top official: Investigation into AZAL Embraer-190 crash nears completion

The final results of the investigation into the crash of the Azerbaijani Embraer-190 airliner near Aktau are expected to be made public after the New Year, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said.

Bozumbayev, who chairs the state commission investigating the tragedy, told RIA Novosti that the investigation is proceeding according to established timelines.

“There is a normative term — usually around a year or slightly more — for such investigations. The relevant work is underway,” he said while speaking on the sidelines of parliament.

In early August, Bozumbayev had stated that Kazakhstan would present a final report on the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft within several months. At that time, he also confirmed that the plane’s avionics module had been sent to the United States for examination.

The tragedy occurred on December 25, 2024, when Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer 190AR, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, during an emergency landing attempt. The flight was operating from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, carrying 67 people — 62 passengers and five crew members. Among the passengers were 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz nationals. The crash claimed 38 lives, including three crew members, while 29 people, including two crew members, survived.

Preliminary findings suggested that the aircraft had been struck by a Russian Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile during Russian air defence operations aimed at repelling a Ukrainian drone attack over Chechnya.

Following the tragedy, on December 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, expressing condolences and apologising for the incident that occurred in Russian airspace. During the conversation, President Aliyev demanded that those responsible be held accountable and that Russia provide compensation to both Azerbaijan and to the injured passengers and families of the victims.

Although Russian authorities initially attempted to obscure the true cause of the crash through conflicting accounts, further investigations clarified the circumstances.

On January 24, Caliber.Az reported that both the officer who ordered the missile launch and the individual who fired had been identified. The same report confirmed the accuracy of the initial conclusion that the aircraft had indeed been hit by a Pantsir-S1 missile. Investigators also found that, prior to being struck, the airliner had been affected by electronic warfare (EW) systems, which disrupted its navigation equipment and severely hindered the crew’s ability to control the aircraft.

Most recently, on October 9, during a meeting with President Aliyev, President Putin stated that Russia would conduct a legal assessment of the actions of all officials involved in the incident.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed gratitude to his Russian counterpart for personally overseeing the ongoing proceedings related to the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash.

By Tamilla Hasanova