On February 19, 2025, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Transport Talgat Lastayev announced that the final report on the investigation into the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane near Aktau would be completed by December of this year. He noted that according to the requirements and standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), one year is allocated for the investigation.

Let us recall that on December 25, 2024, an Embraer 190 aircraft flying from Baku to Grozny crashed three kilometers from Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan. There were 67 people on board: 62 passengers and 5 crew members. As a result of the disaster, 38 people died, 29 managed to survive.

Immediately after the incident, an investigative task force was created to determine the causes of the disaster. Vice Minister Lastayev emphasized that the criminal investigation is under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Transport is not authorized to comment on its progress.

In early February 2025, the Kazakh Ministry of Transport published a preliminary report on the investigation results. According to the document, traces of external impact were found on the wreckage of the plane, which could have led to the destruction of the structure and loss of control of the aircraft. The report also mentions that damage characteristic of the penetration of external objects was found on the vertical stabilizer and tail unit.

The final report on the investigation into the disaster will be a key document in establishing the exact causes of the incident and developing measures to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Until its publication, officials are refraining from making final conclusions, emphasizing the need for a thorough and objective analysis of all the circumstances of the incident.