Minister Karabayev promises to reveal results of AZAL crash soon

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev promised to reveal the cause of the incident involving an AZAL airline aircraft from Azerbaijan near Aktau shortly. He stated that the preliminary results of the investigation will be published on the ministry’s website.

This remark followed a question from journalists about the timeline for the official investigation into the AZAL incident.

«Specialists are working hard to find the truth. As we mentioned before, experts from Azerbaijan, Russia, Brazil and ICAO are involved,» Karabayev said.

In turn, some media representatives noted that the causes of any air incident must be revealed within 30 days.

«Yes, we know, but experts need time to complete their work. This is an incredibly complicated and thorough process,» the official emphasized.

On January 24, 2025, Vice Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev stated that the first results of the investigation would be published within a week. However, even after a week and a half, the cause of the tragedy remains unknown.

The aircraft, which was flying from Baku to Grozny with 62 passengers and five crew members, crashed near Aktau on December 24, 2024. All leaders of the countries connected to the flight or the incident expressed their condolences, including President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

One of the surviving passengers told journalists that she heard an explosion on board. Flight attendants instructed passengers to wear oxygen masks and urged them to brace for impact. The death toll from the incident reached 38.