Interstate aviation committee to inquire into China plane crash
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 18 2004
MOSCOW, May 18 (Itar-Tass) – The Interstate Aviation Committee will
investigate this Tuesday’s Il-76 plane crash near the Chinese airport
of Urumqi.
Under the ICAO regulations, the intergovernmental agreement on civil
aviation and the CIS regulations for air accident investigation and
since the incident concerns four states — Azerbaijan (the state
of registration), Ukraine (the owner of the plane), Russia (the
aircraft designer) and Uzbekistan (the producer), the Interstate
Aviation Committee is an authorized organisation to investigate the
crash with the participation of the countries concerned, IAC sources
told Itar-Tass.
The Azerbaijani embassy in Beijing confirmed that among the seven
crewmembers killed in the crash was an Azerbaijani citizen, a
technician, and the other six were Ukrainian citizens.
Chinese representatives have already handed over a list of the names
of the crewmembers to Ukrainian diplomats.
Ukrainian embassy representatives declined to give comments on the
information, but only said the Ukrainian consul left for Urumqi to
clarify the crash circumstances.
It is unclear so far to what airline the plane belonged.
According to the Azerbaijani embassy in China, the Il-76 belonged to
the Azerbaijani private company Silk Way and was leased by a Ukrainian
air transport company.
However, Azerbaijani Airlines sources said the owner of the Il-76
was a Ukrainian company.
The plane loaded with commodities was on a chartered
Taiwan-Urumqi-Baku-Riga flight.
According to some sources, the cargo was destined for a Russian
company.
The plane fell from a height of 100-150 metres ten kilometres from
the airport two minutes after the takeoff.
Searching for the cockpit voice recorders is under way.
The airport resumed working after the three-hour halt.
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine set up the
Interstate Aviation Committee on the base of the intergovernmental
agreement on civil aviation and use of air space, which was signed
on December 30, 1991.
The IAC is included in the list of international intergovernmental
organisations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).