The Embraer 190 aircraft, which was made in Brazil, was en route from the Baku to Grozny in Russia when it was diverted and crashed in Kazakhstan.
Brazilian air force investigators are working with colleagues from three other countries to analyse the black box data from the Azerbaijan Airlines planes that crashed in Kazakhstan on 25 December killing 38 people.
Brazil’s air force said in a statement that nine foreign investigators have gathered with its own experts at its centre for investigation and prevention of air accidents in the capital Brasilia to work on the data extracted from the flight recorder.
Kazakhstan has three investigators in the group, while six others come from Azerbaijan and Russia.
Investigators in Brasilia are working on recordings, cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the aircraft, the Brazilian air force added.
There’s no deadline for investigators to publicize their conclusions, which will ultimately come from authorities in Kazakhstan.
“The extraction, obtention and validation of the data of the flight recorders will take place in the shortest possible time,” Brazil’s air force said.
The Embraer 190 aircraft, which was made in Brazil, was en route from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the airliner was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.”
Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “hush up” the issue for several days, saying he was “upset and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials.
The plane was reportedly denied permission to land at two nearby Russian airports and was instead diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan where it crashed near the city of Aktau.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to Aliyev for what he called a “tragic incident”, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.
Putin’s apology to Aliyev came as allegations mounted that the plane was shot down by Russian air defence systems attempting to fend off a Ukrainian drone strike near Grozny.
The Kremlin said that air defence systems were firing near Grozny, where the plane attempted to land, to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike.
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