Funeral held in Baku for AZAL crew killed in plane crash in Kazakhstan

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - DECEMBER 29: A funeral ceremony was held on Sunday for the two pilots and one cabin crew member who lost their lives in the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. The ceremony was organized at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in the capital Baku for Captain Pilot Igor Kshnyakin, Co-Pilot Aleksandr Kalyaninov, and Cabin Crew Member Hokume Aliyeva, who perished in the incident. President Ilham Aliyev, his wife Mehriban Aliyeva, state officials, AZAL employees, and the bereaved families of the deceased attended the ceremony. During the ceremony, where the Azerbaijan National Anthem was played, a moment of silence was observed in memory of the crew members and passengers who lost their lives. After the ceremony, the coffins were taken to the 2nd Alley of Honor, where graves of state officials and individuals who have provided services to the nation are located, for burial. The AZAL flight, enroute from Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechen Republic, crashed 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau on the Caspian Sea coast. Kazakh authorities reported that 38 people were killed in the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft, which had 67 people on board, while 29 survived. Investigations into the incident are ongoing in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Initial statements indicated a bird collision as a possible cause of the crash, though footage from the site revealed large holes in the tail section of the aircraft, leading to speculation of a possible attack. Earlier Thursday, senior Azerbaijani officials confirmed to Anadolu reports suggesting the plane crash was caused by a Russian missile system. (Footage by Resul Rehimov /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)