A Russian-built, Azerbaijani-owned cargo plane ferrying supplies to the main U.S./NATO airbase in Afghanistan crashed into a mountain Tuesday night, killing all nine people on board.
Silk Way Airlines Ilyushin IL-76 (4K-AKZ100) similar to the accident aircraft, seen taxiing at Talinn Estonia. (Photo by rotate270 via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND)
At around 11:00 pm local time, the Silk Way Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 (4K-AZ55) crashed in a mountainous region of the Sayagred district of Parwan province, west of its destination of Bagram Airfield and about 13 miles north of Kabul. “The crash site is at 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) and there is an ongoing Afghan operation to secure the site,” a spokesperson for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
The plane was flying from Baku, Azerbaijan carrying 18,000 lbs of automobiles and trailers, according to avherald.com. Air traffic controllers did not receive any distress calls.
Taliban insurgents in the area claimed they had shot the plane down, but the governor of Parwan province denied that possibility, saying Taliban did not have weapons that could reach such an altitude.
With BNO News
