Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
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
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say