Air Transport

All seven crew died in the crash of an Azal Avia Cargo Ilyushin Il-76TD freighter within 2min of take-off from Urumqi airport, China, bound for Baku, Azerbaijan. The aircraft, 4K-AZ27, was built in 1985 and it was reported to be carrying textiles and household materials. After its initial climb, the aircraft descended into farmland, and appeared to be relatively undamaged by the impact or by fire except for its fuselage forward of the wing, which completely burned out. The aircraft had refuelled at Urumqi. The meteorological reports for the area at the time were good.