A NATIONAL DAY of mourning is being held in Azerbaijan after a passenger jet crashed in western Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 of the 67 people onboard.

The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea. It crashed Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

An investigation into the causes of the crash is underway.

However, some aviation and military experts said the plane may have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence systems as it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported.

Officials condemned “speculation” about what happened.

“We need to await the end of the investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Kazakh Senate speaker Maulen Ashimbayev was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying it was “not possible” to say what may have damaged the plane.

“Real experts are looking at all this and they will make their conclusions. Neither Kazakhstan, nor Russia, nor Azerbaijan, of course, are interested in hiding information, it will be brought to the public,” he said.

But Russian military expert Yury Podolyaka said holes seen in the wreckage of the plane were similar to the damage caused by “anti-aircraft missile system”.

“Everything points to that,” he wrote.

A former expert at France’s BEA air accident investigation agency, also said there appeared to be “a lot of shrapnel” damage on the wreckage.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the damage was “reminiscent” of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed with a surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

In this photo released by Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service, rescuers work at the wreckage of the plane crash. Alamy Alamy

Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds before withdrawing the statement.

The airline reported that 62 passengers and five crew members were on board the jet

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said that 38 people had been killed, while the Kazakh emergency situations ministry reported “29 survivors, including three children, have been hospitalised”.

Eleven of the injured are in intensive care, the Kazakh health ministry said.

Azerbaijan state news agency Azertac reported that 12 of the survivors were being flown to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.

Aliyev’s office said the president “ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster”.

The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the sea.

Granular ADS-B data regarding #J28243 is now available at https://t.co/ECZ3sHa1Zg. This set includes high-frequency data from non-positional frames as well. pic.twitter.com/AHRTye3d6S

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 25, 2024

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane “made an emergency landing” around three kilometres from Aktau.

The Kazakh emergency situations ministry said its staff put out a fire which broke out when the plane crashed.

It said 150 emergency workers attended the scene.

Kazakhstan said the plane was carrying 37 Azerbaijani passengers, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyz and 16 Russians.

© – AFP 2024