Turkey to investigate Azimut plane fire at Antalya airport

Turkey will investigate the fire of the Sukhoi Superjet airplane of the Russian airline Azimut at Antalya airport. This was reported by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) on its website on November 25.

"The investigation of the aviation accident is conducted by the center of investigation of accidents in transport of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey (UEIM)," the committee said in a statement.

It added that the IAC in accordance with the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the legislation of the Russian Federation appointed its authorized representative and advisers to participate in clarifying the circumstances of the fire.

In addition, the committee noted that under the provisions of the same convention, informing about the progress of the investigation is carried out by the body that conducts it, and in this case the information will be published by UEIM.

The IAC specified that there were 89 passengers and six crew members on board the Sukhoi Superjet.

Azimut airline plane caught fire while landing in Antalya. What is known

Thefire ofthe plane of the airline "Azimut" during landing at Antalya airport occurred the night before, November 24. Because of the fire, the runway was temporarily closed. A representative of the airport specified that the Sukhoi Superjet engine caught fire, the plane was extinguished. No one was injured. According to the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), the cause of the fire could be the impact on the runway during landing.

The Russian Consulate General in Antalya said that some Russians safely left the airport. Others stayed to wait for their luggage and later received it. Passengers who were supposed to return to Russia on that Azimut plane were provided with a reserve board, and for the time of waiting were allocated places in a hotel. After the fire, a criminal case has been opened, the amount of damage from the fire of the aircraft may amount to 2-3 billion rubles, reports "Gazeta.Ru". The airline said that it would pay passengers of the Sukhoi Superjet, which caught fire, 100 thousand rubles as compensation.

The passenger of the plane Natalia told "Izvestia" that the crew tried to calm the passengers. People helped each other and left the cabin of the aircraft on an inflatable gangway. Passenger Yevgenia, in turn, noted that the plane received a sharp blow when landing, after which it lost power.