Yesterday, a C130 type military transport aircraft belonging to fraternal Turkey, en route from Azerbaijan to Turkey, crashed in Georgian territory.
As a result of the accident, all 20 people on board the aircraft are reported to have lost their lives.
Immediately after the accident, President Ilham Aliyev extended his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, followed by a telephone conversation between the two leaders.
The heads of relevant Azerbaijani structures are also in contact with their Turkish counterparts.
Azerbaijan, remaining true to its fraternal duty, approaches the accident with great sensitivity and provides comprehensive support for the resolution of issues arising in connection with it.
Currently, various opinions regarding the causes of the accident are being voiced on social media and in some media outlets. Unfortunately, there are even those who put forward unrealistic conspiratorial versions without an official opinion.
The aircraft landed at Ganja airport yesterday and remained there for 2 hours. The aircraft's crew did not leave the aircraft's deck or the airport premises. Modern.az reports that APA agency disseminated this information.
The crew on board the aircraft were personnel providing technical maintenance for Turkey's F-16 aircraft that participated in the military parade held in Baku on November 8. Before boarding the aircraft, they underwent all procedures and inspections, down to the smallest details, in accordance with airport security regulations. This process was also recorded by the airport's security cameras.
"There were no explosive substances or devices inside the aircraft, only spare parts for F-16 aircraft," the source stated.
According to information, the crashed aircraft has been in operation for a long time. The aircraft was last overhauled in 2020.
Initial observations suggest that there are no traces of external impact on the aircraft's fuselage. For information, it should be noted that after the Azerbaijani Embraer-190 aircraft crashed on December 25 last year, the initial inspection clearly showed numerous holes in the aircraft's fuselage caused by external impact. This led to the version of the aircraft being shot down being considered primary.
"Therefore, the absence of external impact elements on the C-130's fuselage rules out the possibility of it being shot down. Even if we consider the possibility of an explosive substance or device being inside the aircraft and detonating, there should absolutely have been traces of an explosion on the fuselage of the crashed aircraft," the source noted.
Thus, preliminary investigations provide grounds to focus on two versions. Firstly, since the aircraft has been in operation for a long time, corrosion could have developed in its fuselage, which is a serious reason for the aircraft to crash under high pressure in the air. It should be noted that a U.S. Armed Forces 'Hercules' aircraft crashed for precisely this reason in the 1990s.
The second version is that in cargo aircraft, the cargo being transported is securely fastened in accordance with relevant requirements. Failure to meet this requirement can lead to the cargo shifting due to turbulence or other impacts, causing serious internal complications, which is a fully sufficient reason for an accident.
All of this indicates that some conspiratorial claims currently voiced on social media are unfounded. In fact, there is no basis for this, as the aircraft's black box will clarify the causes of the accident.
It should be noted that the Georgian government also demonstrates sensitivity in this matter.
