Baku, August 9, AZERTAC

Specialists of the Russian Caspian flotilla will be involved in the search operation for the crashed Azerbaijani MiG-29 fighter jet, head of the press service of the Southern Military District Vadim Astafyev has told journalists.

“The search squad will include up to 50 personnel, the small hydrographic vessel Anatoly Guzhvin, the rescue towing vessel SB-45, equipped with the MMK-1-100 multi-purpose bottom-line continuous survey system,” Astafyev said.

He added that it is also planned to use the Falcon remote-controlled underwater vehicle, the Super GNOM Pro underwater remote-controlled inspection complex and the Tiger uninhabited underwater vehicle in the search. “The approximate area of the search area is more than 600 square kilometres, the depth is up to 40 meters.”

The press service of Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry has confirmed the fact.

On July 24, at about 22.00 during a scheduled training flight conducted at night, communication with the MiG-29 fighter of the Azerbaijan Air Force was suddenly interrupted, and the aircraft disappeared from the radars. According to the preliminary assumptions, as a result of a flight accident, a military aircraft fell into the Caspian Sea.

Urgent steps are being taken to search and rescue the pilot.

The specialists of the relevant bodies of the Republic of Turkey equipped with special equipment and devices who arrived in Baku on July 31 are also involved in the search operations of the military aircraft that crashed during the training flight.