IRKUTSK, August 9 (Itar-Tass) — Investigative bodies examine four versions of the An-24 jetliner’s land-crash, which “missed” the runway on Monday while landing in Blagoveshchensk, the capital city of the Amur Region, Itar-Tass learnt at the East Siberian investigative agency on transport of the Russian Investigative Committee.
These are faulty actions of the crew under conditions of poor visibility and weather conditions, violations in actions of airport services, the jetliner’s defects as well as incompatibility of fuel and lubricants with technical standards.
The agency noted that investigators interrogated crewmembers and withdrew technical and flight documentation. Three flight recorders were found out at the place of the land-crash; and they will be dispatched for examination. The inspection of the place of the emergency landing continues.
On Monday morning, an airliner of the IrkutskAERO Company, on the Irkutsk-Chita-Blagoveshchensk-Khabarovsk flight, digressed while landing from the set trajectory over poor visibility and strong wind gusts and landed outside the runway. While landing in bushes, the airliner lost the left wing, the undercarriage, damaged the right wing, engines and got numerous holes in the fuselage. The plane cannot be restored.
There were 36 people aboard. When the airliner stopped, they were getting out from the cabin through crashed-out windows, since doors were jammed. According to the regional branch of the Ministry for Emergencies, 12 people, including one child, were injured. All of them were hospitalized, but some were checked out after receiving medical aid.
A criminal case was instituted under article of the Russian Criminal Code “Violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport”.