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SPECULATION CONTINUES TO swirl around the cause of Wednesday’s Azerbaijan Airlines jet crash in western Kazakhstan.
The crash killed 38 of the 67 people on board.
Several media reports have quoted Azerbaijani officials as saying they suspect a Russian air defence missile caused the crash while the Kremlin has declined to comment until the official investigation is completed.
Flight J2-8243 left Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan, at 7:55am (local time) on Christmas day. It was destined for Kadyrov Grozny International Airport in Russia.
The Embraer 190 jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau after two attempts to land at its destination in the Russian city of Grozny and then diverting far off course across the Caspian Sea. The diversion was due to thick fog, the airline and Russian authorities have said.
The specialist website Flightradar24, which tracks flights, said the flight had experienced “significant GPS interference”.
The plane “stopped sending positional data” for a few minutes, the site said.
A survivor, Subkhonkul Rakhimov, told Russia’s state broadcaster RT that an “explosion” appeared to happen outside the plane as it attempted to land in Grozny in fog, causing shrapnel to penetrate inside.
“I wouldn’t say it was inside the plane because the skin of the fuselage near where I was sitting flew off,” he said.
“I grabbed a life jacket and saw there was a hole in it – it was pierced by shrapnel.”
Footage posted on social media showed the moment the plane crashed and burst into flames. Another video taken by a passenger on board showed him praying as cabin crew told people to remain seated.
According to Azerbaijan Airlines and the Azerbaijani transport minister, the plane suffered physical “external interference”.
The airline and minister both cited preliminary results of an investigation today, which has only added to speculation it was hit by a Russian air defence system.
Statements from Azerbaijan citing the investigation into the incident suggest they believe the plane was hit in mid-air.
“Based on the opinion of experts and on the words of eyewitnesses, it can be concluded that there was external interference,” Azerbaijani’s transport minister, Rashad Nabiyev, told reporters today.
“It is necessary to find out from what kind of weapon,” he added, citing reports from survivors of hearing “three explosions” as the plane was over Grozny.
Azerbaijan Airlines said it has suspended flights to 10 Russian airports.
Russia’s aviation agency said on Wednesday that “due to an emergency situation on board the plane, the pilot decided to go to another airport – Aktau was chosen”.
Russia’s aviation chief said today that Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in Russia, was being attacked by Ukrainian drones at the time that the pilots were trying land.
However, the Kremlin has declined to comment on reports the plane was accidentally shot down by Russian air defence missiles.
In the aftermath of the crash, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It would be wrong to put forward any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions. We, of course, will not do this, and no-one should do this. We need to wait until the investigation is completed.”
Authorities in Kazakhstan, a key Russian ally, have also warned against “speculation”.
The head of Russia’s civil aviation agency, Dmitry Yadrov, said today that “the situation on this day and at these hours in the area of Grozny airport was very complex”.
“Ukrainian attack drones at this time were making terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz,” Yadrov said, referring to a nearby city.
He said the Azeri pilot made “two attempts to land the plane in Grozny that were unsuccessful” in “thick fog”.
“The pilot was offered other airports. He took the decision to go to Aktau airport,” he added.
Some aviation and military experts said the plane might have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence systems because it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported.
Experts have also pointed to signs of shrapnel damage on the plane wreckage as evidence it was hit by air defence systems.
An Azerbaijan pro-government website, Caliber, and several other media have cited unnamed Azerbaijani officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S1 air defence system caused the crash.
Ukraine’s military intelligence has also claimed this, and Ukraine’s presidency said Russia “must be held responsible for the downing” of the plane.
With reporting from AFP
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Putin’s poison spreading everywhere.
@Paddy Ryan: it’s spread to you. He’s living rent free in your head
@Ger Whelan: yes comrade bot
@Paddy Ryan: Tell me why do you always have Putin on the brain? He’s literally all you talk about here.
@Paddy Ryan: He has absolutely no regard for human life whether that is killing someone in a gulag firing missiles at civilian aircraft or just simply pushing dissidents out of a top floor window
@DJ D: yes absolutely. An evil person. Plenty of pro Russian bots on this page trying to influence us.
@Ger Whelan: His comment is on topic, which is more than can be said for yours.
‘Living rent free in your head’ is such a cliché at this point.
@Paddy Ryan: Who’s trying to influence you?. I’m just curious to know why the only comments you post on here are about Putin. It’s like there is nothing else going on in your life and waiting to post about him.
@Paddy Ryan: Don’t mind Ger. He’s a harmless contrarian who thinks out loud in the comments and will, in all likelihood, contradict himself in about 10 minutes when a new thought appears in his head and seeks freedom…
@honey badger: very true
@honey badger: the only person who contradicts themselves on here is yourself. Just look at you calling people traveling to Russia heros.
@Paddy Ryan: Russia announced that it was caused by a bird strike, before the plane hit the ground.! A bird strike in a landing situation would be unlikely to cause a crash. Russia should have come up with a more credible reason .
@Patrick MC Dermott: maybe ger can enlighten us.
@Ger Whelan: The pilots are heroes. They saved lives against massive odds. Stop being such a witless bellend. You’re making a show of yourself.
@honey badger: So heroes fly to Russia thus directly supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine?.
@Ger Whelan: you are giving us all a good laugh. Banter central.
@Paddy Ryan: good to know
@Ger Whelan: I’m guessing his name cropped up because his military has yet again downed a civilian airliner.
We know you can’t trust Russia. We recall their reaction to MH-17.
If it will be confirmed that it was indeed an air-to-air missile, putin will just say it was ukraine or some other nonsense and pro-russians will eat it up.
@Adomas Mockus: Nobody is claiming it’s an air-to-air missile. Its likely the plane was hit by anti aircraft fire. Ukraine do not have any anti aircraft weapons in the area. Only Russia does. So they can blame who they like if it’s proved the plane was hit then it could only be hit by Russia
Information now coming from regional sources indicate that after the pilot declared an emergency and requested authorization to land, three or four – accounts differ- Russian airports refused permissionto land, in breach of all standards, forcing the plane to cross the Caspian.
While crossing the Caspian, GPS was blocked and/or spoofed interfering with the ability of the crew to navigate.
These would suggest that the Russians wanted this plane downed in the Caspian, from which point onwards they might be more able to control the narrative, i.e. conduct a cover up or blame game.
All suggesting that either
a) There was someone on board, or expected to be on board, that the Russians wanted to murder
b) Russian air defenses downed another civilian aircraft due to incompetence or negligence
What’s going y try o happen? Nothing as usual. Putin H itler can do whatever the f he wants
@Stevie Doran: what do you suggest we do?
Putin <3
Put <3
I blame the doctors in gaza
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