The causes of the MiG-31 military fighter jet crash in the centre of Kazakhstan on April 16 are established by a special commission, the commander-in-chief of the Air Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Ormanbetov, said April 17.
“A special commission is working to determine the causes of failure or malfunction of aircraft, check all possible versions and give an opinion on the causes of the accident,” Ormanbetov told a briefing on April 17.
Several versions of the accident are considered. “This may be a failure of aircraft in flight, the impact of external factors, the human factor is not excluded,” Ormanbetov said.
He emphasised that the two pilots, which ejected before the plane crashed, “acted correctly, as part of the flight operations manual.”
The incident occurred south of the airfield of Karaganda. After takeoff, there was a fire in one of the engines. The pilots were injured and are hospitalised in the regional hospital of Karaganda, he said.
